What is the Standard initial treatment for Minimal change disease in children?
The cornerstone of therapy of typical nephrotic syndrome in young children is high-dose glucocorticoids.
Children treated with a longer initial course of prednisone may be less likely to experience frequent relapses than those children treated with a more abbreviated course of steroid therapy. Children older than 4 years of age are treated with 60 mg/m 2 daily given early in the morning for 6 weeks followed by 40 mg/m 2 every other morning for an additional 6 weeks. Children younger than age 4 receive the same initial 6-week course of daily prednisone but then should receive a slower taper of 60 mg/m 2 every other morning for 4 weeks, tapering further by 10 mg/m 2 every 4 weeks for an additional 20 weeks. Approximately 95% of young children will experience a complete remission of the nephrotic syndrome within 4 weeks; 75% will respond within 2 weeks.
