ABSTRACT
Margrethe Mau Pedersen Department of Internal Medicine and Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark
Diabetic nephropathy is the main cause of reduced survival in insulindependent diabetes. Much interest is paid to early alterations in kidney function and structure, since a relationship may exist between such early abnormalities and later development of diabetic nephropathy. A modest increase in urinary albumin excretion, microalbuminuria, has been identified as an early marker of diabetic nephropathy, and therapeutical intervention postponing the onset of overt nephropathy has been introduced. Characteristic renal changes before the onset of microalbuminuria are glomerular hyperfunction and renal hypertrophy, and in this chapter these abnormalities will be addressed.
