The efficacy and safety of rituximab with or without glucocorticoid in inducing remission of MCD with different clinical presentations in adults: a retrospective study.

Background: To investigate the efficacy and safety of rituximab (RTX) with or without glucocorticoid (GC) in inducing remission of minimal change disease (MCD) in adults. Methods: Twenty-one adult MCD patients were included in the study. The patients were assigned to the following three groups according to their background before RTX treatment: an RTX single drug direct induction treatment group (Group A; Results: All patients achieved clinical remission, with 19 (90.48%) achieving complete remission (CR), and the median remission time was 4 (2.5, 12) weeks. Eight (88.89%) patients in Group A achieved CR, and the median remission time was 3 (2.25, 14) weeks. In Group B, three (75.00%) patients achieved CR, with a median remission time of 4 (4, 10) weeks. In Group C, eight (100.00%) patients achieved CR, and the median remission time was 3.5 (2, 4) weeks. Conclusions: In MCD patients without acute kidney injury, adequate RTX alone or short-term combined treatment with low-dose GCs can effectively induce and maintain MCD remission. Adequate short-term GCs combined with RTX maintenance may be an effective alternative for MCD patients in context of acute kidney injury. There is a need to investigate different induction therapy regimens for the remission of MCD patients with different backgrounds.