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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nephrol.
Sec. Pediatric Nephrology
Volume 5 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneph.2025.1539776
Short term outcome of Levamisole in frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome: A single center prospective cohort study
Provisionally accepted- Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi, Pakistan
This study aims to describe the outcome of Levamisole (LEVA) treatment in children with frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome (FRNS).This prospective cohort study was conducted at the department of pediatric nephrology, from 1 st , January 2019 to 31 st , December 2020. Children aged 1 -18 years diagnosed as FRNS were included. LEVA was started with a dose of 2 -2.5 mg/Kg every other day for 2 years along with low dose Prednisolone in the first year.A total of 70 children were enrolled with FRNS in the study. The median age was 7.5 (Interquartile range [IQR] 5.0 -9.6 years) with slight preponderance for boys 42 (60%).The mean number of relapses and cumulative dose of steroids significantly decreased from one year prior to starting LEVA, two years on LEVA therapy to one year of followup. LEVA non-response was observed in half of the studied participants 28 (46%). The responder and non-responder were comparable in terms of cumulative dose of steroids and number of relapses in the year prior to starting LEVA (5242 ± 1738 versus 4910 ± 1469 p-value 0.52 and 5.4 ±2.4 versus 5.2 ±2.1 p-value 0.85).LEVA therapy resulted in a substantial reduction in the frequency of relapses and cumulative dosage, indicating its potential as an alternative option in children with relapsing disease.
Keywords: MeSH: Frequently relapsing nephrotic syndrome, Levamisole, childhood, Outcome, Prospective
Received: 04 Dec 2024; Accepted: 12 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Khatri, Bajeer, Zubair, Lanewala and Hashmi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Sabeeta Khatri, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi, Pakistan
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