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During the congress, E-Posters will be accessible to all participants on the congress website 24/7, as well as in the E-poster stations in the congress center.
Preparing your E-Poster
Please review the E-Poster format requirements carefully when preparing your E-Poster. Should your E-Poster not meet the mentioned requirements, it may not be displayed as described above.
E-Poster Submission Deadline
Please prepare and upload your E-Poster no later than March 14, 2026 11.59PM CET. After this date, you will no longer be able to prepare and upload your E-poster and it will not be displayed and accessible on the congress website.
Please follow the instructions below to input your abstract title.
Abstract titles should be brief and reflect the content of the abstract.
The optimal duration of corticosteroid treatment for adult steroid-sensitive minimal change disease (MCD) remains uncertain. We previously reported that a two-months short-term steroid regimen used in 35 adult cases reduced their cumulative steroid exposure without increasing frequent relapse compared with those in conventional tapering. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the short-term steroid regimen for adult steroid-sensitive MCD in a larger cohort with an extended observation period.
Adult patients (≥20 years) diagnosed with MCD by kidney biopsy at our university and its affiliated hospitals between 2005 and 2021 were included if they presented with a first episode of nephrotic syndrome and achieved complete remission (CR) within four weeks by steroid monotherapy. Clinical courses through the end of 2023 were retrospectively compared between those who treated with the short-term steroid regimen (short-term group) and those treated with the conventional steroid therapy (conventional group). Relapse and steroid discontinuation status were compared between the groups. In relapsed cases, the relationship between time to first relapse and cumulative steroid dose (converted to prednisolone [PSL] equivalent) at relapse were compared. Reinduction of CR after relapse, adverse events, and cumulative steroid doses were also evaluated.
Sixty-nine participants in the short-term group and 233 in the conventional group were analyzed. During follow-up (median in short-term group: 40.4 months, vs. in conventional group: 43.9 months, p=0.28), occurrence of any relapse was higher in short-term group (71.0% vs. 59.6%, p=0.09), with a shorter time to first-relapse (162 vs. 411 days, p<0.001). Among patients without relapse, two subgroups were identified. The first comprised those who discontinued steroids of initial therapy, with similar proportions in both groups (29.0% vs. 27.5%, p=0.81) (Figure1-(1)). The second subgroup consisted of patients who remained on steroids at the end of follow-up despite no relapse, which was observed only in the conventional group (0.0% vs. 12.9%, p=0.002) (Figure1-(2)). This subgroup included patients whose relapse was delayed by continued steroid therapy or those at low relapse risk with missed opportunities for steroid withdrawal, potentially contributing to the apparently lower relapse rate in the conventional group.
In relapsed cases, the relationship between time to first relapse and cumulative steroid dose at relapse was assessed (Figure2). The short-term group experienced earlier relapse with lower cumulative exposure. The regression line in this group was almost flat, indicating that cumulative dose remained constant regardless of relapse timing, whereas in the conventional group, cumulative exposure increased with later relapse due to gradual tapering.
There were no significant differences between groups in reinduction of CR rate after relapse or incidence of adverse events. The cumulative steroid dose was significantly lower in the short-term group at all time points (Figure3).
Short-term steroid regimen for adult steroid-sensitive MCD enabled early identification of relapse risk and achieved a sustained reduction in cumulative steroid exposure. These findings suggested that short-term steroid regimen may offer an effective and safer initial treatment option for adult steroid-sensitive MCD.
