Following Bright

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Following Bright

Bright’s conclusions were based only on macroscopic appearances in the kidneys. But by 1840 three UK pathologists had made microscopic descriptions of the kidneys:

  • William Bowman (1816-1892) – whose name remains attached to the capsule of the glomerulus which he first described.
  • John Toynbee (1815-1866) who reported the  microscopic examination of microdissected kidneys.
  • George Johnson (1818-1896) who in subjects with kidney disease identified lipid in kidney cells and urinary casts, and described arterial wall hypertrophy.

Bright’s observations and conclusions were not long in being affirmed. Robert Christison (1797-1882) in Edinburgh confirmed all the findings of Bright and Bostock, and also described relapsing nephrotic syndrome [1].

By 1875 the entity of acute post-infectious nephritis had also been well described most notable by William Howship Dickinson (1832-1913) at Great Ormond St , whose observations were mostly in scarlatina (i.e. streptococcal scarlet fever) . Dickinson 1867 – Acute nephritis 50 years after Bright

There was also by the end of the 1800s growing understanding of settings where proteinuria did not indicate kidney disease – for example postural proteinuria exertional haematuria and proteinuria.

Further information

[1]   Cameron JS. Sir Robert Christison (1797-1882): the man, his times, and his contributions to nephrology. J R Coll Physicians Edinb. 2007 Jun;37(2):155-72.

Authorship

 

Last Updated on January 7, 2025 by neilturn