Historical Aspects of Proteinuria

Historical aspects in the investigation, evaluation, and management of patients with proteinuria, in large part, as they relate to patients with glomerulonephritis, are reviewed. This evaluation has been a long and complex process with many divergent and cross pathways. Although the history covers more than 2000 years, it is only in the past 2 centuries, with the more advanced experimental methods that have developed in science, that the growth has been exponential. With these advances, the knowledge between kidney structure and function evolved, and the subsequent links determined between physiology and pathology of kidney disease, and the clinical phenotypes of glomerular disease have revealed the overwhelming importance of proteinuria as both an indicator of kidney involvement and a marker of disease progression.