Tubulointerstitial Nephritis and Uveitis Syndrome: Case Report and Review of the Literature.

PURPOSE: To review the literature on tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis (TINU) syndrome, and to report a case of a patient with relapsing polychondritis (RP) and TINU syndrome.

METHOD: TINU syndrome is a rare oculorenal inflammatory disorder. It is more common in young women with autoimmune conditions, infections, systemic disease, and previous use of medications. We report the case of a 62-year-old woman with relapsing polychondritis and a 2-year history of acute, recurrent, asymmetric, bilateral, anterior, non-granulomatous uveitis accompanied by tubulointerstitial nephritis.

RESULTS

The patient was diagnosed with TINU syndrome associated with relapsing polychondritis. No cases of this association have been reported in the literature. The clinical features of TINU syndrome are discussed based on the published works.

CONCLUSIONS

TINU is an uncommon syndrome; only about 200 cases have been reported in the literature related to infections, systemic disease, and previous use of medications such as antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). We found that it can be associated with relapsing polychondritis; therefore, it is important to investigate symptoms of this disease since TINU syndrome can co-exist with it.