Studies on Familial Nephrosis: I. Clinical and Pathologic Study of Four Cases in a Single Family

The nephrotic syndrome has rarely been observed in more than one member of a family and is not generally considered to be a familial disease. Prader¹ and Goettsch,² however, reported the occurrence of the nephrotic syndrome in twins. Barnett³ has observed nephrosis in two siblings of three families and Werner⁴ in siblings of two additional families. Recently Fanconi^5,6 summarized the experience of his clinic with regard to the familial incidence of the nephrotic syndrome in 17 children of seven families. He concluded that nephrosis may occur as a familial disease and that the disease tends to be severer in older members of the family. He also stated that the prognosis of familial nephrosis seemed to be worse than that usually accorded the sporadic form of nephrosis.

This report presents the results of a study of a family in which all four children suffered from the