How are relapses of Minimal change disease treated?
Relapses of Minimal change disease are treated with the same initial doses of corticosteroids as the initial episode of nephrotic syndrome but for a more abbreviated course, at least in children.
Children are treated with daily steroids until the urine is negative for protein for 3 days.
The prednisone dose is then lowered to 40 mg/m 2 every other morning for 4 weeks with either a rapid taper over 2 months or a slow taper over 6 to 12 months.
The rapidity of the taper is usually based on the patient’s prior response to tapering. Adults who relapse are also re-treated with a regimen similar to the initial corticosteroid protocol outlined previously.
