Tubulo-interstitial disorders

Moniem, Khalid; Ball, Simon

doi:10.1016/j.mpmed.2007.06.006

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Volume 35, Issue 9 , Pages 500-502, September 2007

Tubulo-interstitial disorders

Khalid Moniem MRCP is Specialist Registrar in Renal Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK. He qualified from the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and trained in general and renal medicine in Hull, Leeds and Birmingham, UK. His research interests include renal anaemia and transplantation. Competing interests: none declared

Simon Ball MA PhD FRCP is Consultant Nephrologist at University Hospital, Birmingham, UK. He qualified from Oxford University and University College London. He trained in nephrology in London and Stevenage. His main research interests include the immune response to HLA and the diagnosis of renal disease in the Indo-Asian population. Competing interests: none declared

Abstract

Chronic renal failure (CRF) is accompanied by tubulo-interstitial atrophy and fibrosis, regardless of the cause. Disorders of the renal vasculature, the glomeruli, or of urinary drainage all culminate in chronic tubulo-interstitial damage, the severity of which is the histological feature that correlates best with progression to end-stage renal failure (ESRF). However, there are diverse conditions in which the tubulo-interstitium is the primary site of damage, and these may be considered together without inferring a common aetiology or pathogenesis. The diseases classified as tubulo-interstitial nephritis are considered in this article.

Keywords: acute renal failure, BK nephropathy, chronic renal failure, immune response, infection, interstitial nephritis