The patients was a 43-year-old woman whose chief complaints were
nausea and heaviness of the heads. There was a history of
toxemia of pregnancy. The patient had previously taken Tenshin Tokishigyaku-ka-goshuyu-shokyo-to for two years because of cold sensitivity.
Fever, thirst, and loss of appetite developed from approximately 18 months after she started treatment with the Chinese
herbal preparation, and she presented at our outpatient clinic 2.5 years later. On initial examination, deterioration of renal function was evident and the serum
creatinine level was 3.4 mg/dl. A renal biopsy specimen showed marked interstitial
fibrosis without inflammatory cell infiltration, leading to the diagnosis of Chinese herbs nephropathy (CHN).
Steroid therapy was started on the 36th hospital day after a sharp rise in the serum
creatinine level to 5.1 mg/dl. This resulted in the rapid improvement of renal function and reduction of the serum
creatinine to 2.6 mg/dl by 8 weeks after the initiation of treatment. In a study on the use of
steroids for patients with progressive moderate renal dysfunction caused by Chinese herbs, Vanherweghem et al. reported that the progression of
renal failure was appreciably slowed in patients given
steroids when compared with the control group. We were also able to slow the progression of renal dysfunction in our patient by
steroid therapy, although the prognosis of CHN is generally considered to be very poor.