Ernest Goodpasture first discovered Goodpasture syndrome in 1919 while studying the influenza pandemic. It is a rare autoimmune disorder that affects the kidneys and the lungs. In this article, you will learn more about Goodpasture syndrome and what having this autoimmune disorder entails.
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Diagnosis
- Treatments
- Summary
Overview of Goodpasture syndrome
Goodpasture syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that affects the kidneys and the lungs. Generally, your body produces antibodies to fight pathogens (invaders) in the body. However, if you have this autoimmune disorder, your body produces antibodies that attack your organs – kidneys and lungs. It can lead to inflammation of the kidney or bleeding in the lungs. If left untreated, this can be life-threatening.
This syndrome commonly occurs in people between 20 and 30 or people over the age of 60 and is more prevalent in men.
Symptoms
Goodpasture syndrome has a variety of symptoms. Some include …
- Appearance of being pale or tired
- Nausea or vomiting
- Trouble breathing
- Coughing up blood
- Protein in the urine
- Small amounts of blood in the urine
- Swelling of the hands and feet
- High blood pressure
- Back pain below your ribs
- Dry cough
Most of these symptoms are due to problems in the kidney and have similar symptoms to kidney failure.
Diagnosis of Goodpasture syndrome
Some tests used to test for Goodpasture Syndrome include:
- Blood Tests: This test checks to make sure all blood component levels are stable and there is no excess waste which may indicate kidney problems. Blood tests may also find circulating antibodies that would otherwise have gone undetected.
- Urine Test: This test is similar to the blood test in that it checks urine to make sure the output level and the level of each mineral are stable and there is no protein or blood which may indicate kidney problems.
- Kidney Biopsy: Your doctor takes small tissue samples of your kidney and examines them under a microscope to ensure there is no damage. To ensure no mistakes are made about your diagnosis, your doctor may also perform a lung biopsy.
- Chest X-ray: Doctors use this to ensure there is no damage to the lungs, which would be affected by Goodpasture syndrome.
Doctors administer many of these tests to check for damage to the kidneys and lungs, the main organs affected by Goodpasture syndrome.
Treatments
Goodpasture syndrome does have a few treatments. Some include:
- Immunosuppressive medicine: This medicine prevents your body from making antibodies. This syndrome occurs due to antibodies attacking the kidneys and lungs. This medicine prevents the formation of these antibodies and therefore prevents further damage to the body. However, the body becomes vulnerable to infections, due to antibodies not being produced at a rate needed to fend off attackers.
- Corticosteroids: Inflammation and tissue damage are reduced using this medicine. As a result, it would decrease lung and kidney damage inflicted through this syndrome. The kidneys and lungs get damaged because the antibodies attack the lungs and kidneys creating tissue damage and inflammation.
- Plasmapheresis: In this process, doctors remove and filter blood plasma to eliminate harmful antibodies. After this, the body receives the clean blood again. This treatment often has steroids prescribed as a complement.
- Cyclophosphamide: This medicine belongs to a group of medications called alkylating agents. Doctors use these medications in chemotherapy to slow the growth of cancer cells. However, for this disease, they can also use it to slow down the immune system’s production.
Summary of Goodpasture syndrome
In conclusion, Goodpasture syndrome is an autoimmune disorder in which the body produces antibodies that attack the kidneys and lungs. Although scientists have not found the root cause of this syndrome, they have managed to find treatment solutions to a variety of symptoms. Despite fewer than 5,000 people being affected by Goodpasture syndrome, more research is needed to better support those individuals.
