Diagnosis and Management of Acute Interstitial Nephritis - American Family Physician

www.aafp.org/afp AMERICAN FAMILY PHYSICIAN 2527 stitium. The term was first used by Councilman in 1898 when he noted the histopathologic changes in autopsy specimens of patients with diphtheria and scarlet fever. Although the term acute interstitial nephritis is more commonly used, acute tubulointerstitial nephritis more accurately describes this disease entity, because the renal tubules, as well as the interstitium, are involved. AIN has become an important cause of acute renal failure caused by drug hypersensitivity reactions as a result of the increasing use of antibiotics and other medications that may induce an allergic response in the interstitium. AIN has been reported to occur in approximately 1 percent of renal biopsies during the evaluation of hematuria or proteinuria. In some studies of patients with acute renal failure, approximately 5 to 15 percent had AIN.