Renal Involvement in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Abstract

The prevalence of extraintestinal manifestations in inflammatory bowel diseases varies from 6%–46%. The etiology of extraintestinal manifestations remains unclear. There are theories based on an immunological response influenced by genetic factors. Extraintestinal manifestations can involve almost every organ system. They may originate from the same pathophysiological mechanism of intestinal disease, or as secondary complications of IBD, or autoimmunity susceptibility. The most frequently involved organs are joints, skin, eyes, liver and the biliary tract. Renal involvement has been considered as an extraintestinal manifestation and has been described, both in Crohn’s disease and in ulcerative colitis. The most frequent renal involvements in patients with inflammatory bowel disease are: nephrolithiasis, tubulointerstitial nephritis, glomerulonephritis and amyloidosis. The aim of this review is to evaluate and report the most important data in literature on renal involvement in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Bibliographical searches were performed in MEDLINE electronic database from January 1998 to January 2015 with the following key words (all fields): (inflammatory bowel disease OR Crohn’s disease OR ulcerative colitis) AND (kidney OR renal OR nephrotoxicity OR renal function OR kidney disease OR renal disease OR glomerulonephritis OR interstitial nephritis OR amyloidosis OR kidney failure OR renal failure) AND (5-aminosalicylic acid OR aminosalicylate OR mesalazine OR TNF-α inhibitors OR cyclosporine OR azathioprine OR drugs OR pediatric).