Oxford classification of IgA nephropathy: Broadening the scope of the classification.

*Corresponding author: Dr. Muhammed Mubarak, Histopathology Department, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi-74200, Pakistan. Telephone: 009221 99215752, Fax: 009221 32726165 Email: [email protected] gA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common glomerulopathy worldwide (1). However, its prevalence in published renal biopsy series and clinicopathological features vary from region to region, and country to country (2). This is mainly due to differences in biopsy indications, the extent of pathological evaluation of renal biopsies and the nephrology practice, rather than true ancestral differences in the prevalence of the disorder (3). The disease is most prevalent in countries with population-based urinalysis screening programs. Similarly, the clinicopathological presentation of the disease is milder in centers employing the urinalysis approach for the diagnosis of the disorder (2, 3). Although, in the majority of patients, the disease is benign, IgAN is characterized by a slowly progressive course to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in 30-40% of individuals over 20-years of follow-up (2). This progression is unpredictable in most instances. There are no entirely reliable factors which can accurately predict the progression in individual patients (4). Traditionally, the prognostication was carried out using the clinical and laboratory parameters. Pathological features on renal biopsy have remained largely I ARTICLE INFO