Pediatric Cases Diagnosed with Drug-Related Acute Tubulointerstitial Nephritis: A Single-Center Experience

Abstract

Aim: Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) is inflammation of the renal interstitium. It is also a common cause of acute kidney injury (AKI). The aim is to contribute to the literature by evaluating patients diagnosed with drug-induced TIN.
 Material methods: 29 Turkish children aged between 3 and 217 months, 5 of whom had undergone a biopsy, were retrospectively analyzed in terms of clinical and laboratory findings.
 Results: 29 patients, 19 of whom were girls, were evaluated. The mean age at diagnosis was 138.6(3-217) ± 67.4 months. Nausea-vomiting complaint of 12 cases, 6 under treatment during hospitalization, 4 with headache, 2 with isolated fatigue, and the remaining 5 patients with incidentally detected renal function test disorder, oligo-anuria, urinary incontinence, red urination, and uveitis. At the time of diagnosis, 4 patients had hypertension and 26 patients had AKI. Two of these cases were anuric. The low eGFR values at the time of diagnosis were observed to improve at the end of the follow-up. Hematuria was detected in 18 cases and of them were macroscopic hematuria. 4 patients had pyuria, 19 patients had proteinuria, and 2 of them were nephrotic. FeNa was the most common abnormality of the tubular tests with 4.5%. Biopsy was performed in 5 cases. While one of the patients presented with uveitis, uveitis developed in 1 patient during the 3rd month of follow-up.
 Conclusion: Consequently, although TIN is a reversible disease, its recognition is important in terms of treatment and follow-up.