Clinical manifestations of rheumatic nephropathy

Rheumatic diseases plague many middle-aged and elderly people, and the causes of rheumatic diseases are mostly related to bad living habits. There are many aspects of rheumatic diseases, so what are the clinical manifestations of rheumatic nephropathy? The manifestations of rheumatic nephropathy mainly include the following aspects: first, rashes of varying degrees will appear on the skin; second, eye diseases; third, muscle pain; and fourth, poor digestive system function.

1. Pain syndrome: Pain in joints, muscles, and tendons is quite common. It can affect all large and small joints of the limbs, with symmetrical joint pain being the most common. Morning stiffness and Raynaud's sign are important associated symptoms. The onset, nature, location, duration, presence or absence of systemic symptoms and age of onset of pain vary from patient to patient.

2. Skin manifestations

Most patients with rheumatic diseases have skin changes, which may be specific or nonspecific. The manifestations are diverse, including urticaria, annular erythema, papular erythema, erythema multiforme, erythema nodosum, facial erythema, etc. The pathological basis of skin lesions is vasculitis, the most important of which is leukocytoclastic vasculitis. The size of the affected blood vessels, reaction intensity, duration, range of involvement and pathological changes vary depending on the different skin lesions.

3. Eye manifestations

Ocular symptoms may precede systemic symptoms by months or years. Some become prominent manifestations during the course of the disease. The lesions can affect the cornea, retina, and pigment layer. Symptoms include dry eyes, increased intraocular pressure, cataracts, orbital myositis, ophthalmoplegia, decreased vision, and even blindness.

4. Pulmonary manifestations

Dyspnea is a common complaint and may result from pneumonia, eosinophilic pulmonary infiltrates, pulmonary hemorrhage, focal granuloma formation, fibrosing alveolitis, interstitial pneumonia, and pleural effusion.

5. Digestive system symptoms

Since the basic pathological change is extensive small vessel inflammation, the digestive system is also widely affected, such as gastrointestinal bleeding, perforation or intestinal obstruction, which can be life-threatening. Liver involvement is common and may be the prominent manifestation of the disease, with symptoms such as hepatomegaly, jaundice, pain in the liver area, nausea, vomiting, and in the form of chronic active hepatitis.

6. Cardiovascular system table

The myocardium, endocardium, pericardium, conduction system, arteries and veins may all be affected. Clinical manifestations include cardiac enlargement, accelerated heart rate, systolic murmur in the valvular area, pericardial friction sound, high blood pressure and various arrhythmias. Patients with severe rheumatic diseases may suffer from heart failure.

7. Renal manifestations

Renal diseases are quite common, including renal interstitial inflammation, fibrosis, membranous nephropathy, glomerular basement membrane thickening, and amyloidosis. Patients with rheumatic diseases may experience edema, polyuria or oliguria, proteinuria, hypertension, and acute or chronic renal failure.