Familial juvenile nephronophthisis, Jeune's syndrome, and associated disorders

Fourteen patients with familial juvenile nephronophthisis are described, eight of whom displayed one or more additional disorders. One boy with short limbed dwarfism and an abnormal chest was considered to have Jeune's syndrome; review of the published reports supports the view that nephronophthisis is the principal cause of renal failure in this disorder. Another patient with renal failure and retinitis pigmentosa at presentation developed progressive neurological and neuromuscular impairment leading to the discovery of ragged red fibre disease (mitochondrial cytopathy). Cardiomyopathy was present in this and one other patient. Tapeto-retinal degeneration, hepatic fibrosis, cerebellar ataxia, and oculomotor apraxia were among the other disorders encountered. Three patients presented in extremis with acute heart failure and irreversible oligo-anuria and this complication developed in another child who was already known to have nephronophthisis. Awareness of this disease and its associations is important for early diagnosis and appropriate management.