Drug-induced renal disease

The clinical manifestations of drug-induced renal disease may include all the manifestations attributed to natural or spontaneous renal diseases such as acute renal failure, chronic renal failure, acute nephritic syndrome, renal colic, haematuria, selective tubular defects, obstructive nephropathy, etc. It is therefore vital in any patient with renal disease whatever the clinical manifestations might be, to obtain a meticulous drug and toxin inventory. Withdrawal of the offending drug may result in amelioration or cure of the renal disorder although in the case of severe renal failure it may be necessary to utilise haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis to tide the patient over the period of acute renal failure. Analgesic nephropathy is an important cause of terminal chronic renal failure and it is therefore vital to make the diagnosis as early as possible. The pathogenesis of some drug-induced renal disorders appears to be immunologically mediated. There are many other pathogenetic mechanisms involved in drug-induced renal disorders and some drugs may under appropriate circumstances be responsible for a variety of different nephrotoxic effects. For example, the sulphonamides have been incriminated in examples of crystalluria, acute interstitial nephritis, acute tubular necrosis, generalised hypersensitivity reactions, polyarteritis nodosa and drug-induced lupus erythematosus.