Lipid Nephrosis

The term lipid nephrosis was first used by Müller¹to distinguish the purely degenerative type of renal lesion from the inflammatory type. After many evolutions it has come to designate a malady characterized by an insidious onset, generalized recurrent edema, normal blood pressure, massive albuminuria, a normal blood urea content, a high serum lipid level and a low value for total serum protein and for albumin (Volhard and Fahr²and others). Epstein³suggested that the cause of lipid nephrosis is extrarenal and that the symptoms are caused by a disturbance of protein metabolism. Schick⁴and Addis⁵suggested that the source of this protein disturbance may be in the liver. If one accepts lipid nephrosis as a distinct clinical entity, it is rather infrequent. In over twenty years in the pediatric service at the Mount Sinai Hospital we have made such a diagnosis for only 40