title: Irreversible renal failure associated with triamterene.
abstract: A 66-year-old man was admitted with acute oliguric renal failure. The patient was known to have chronic heart failure (ejection fraction 13%) and his medication included furosemide, digoxin and triamterene. Physical examination was unremarkable, and blood pressure was 170/80 mm Hg. Serum creatinine was 1,173 mumol/l. Renal ultrasound, CT scan and angiogram were normal. Despite correction of potential reversible factors and discontinuation of triamterene, renal function did not improve. Renal biopsy showed tubular obstruction with deposition of birefringent crystals and interstitial lymphocytic infiltration; the crystals emitted a blue autofluorescence at 425 nm, typical of triamterene. Renal tissue contained large amounts of triamterene (6.44 mg/g kidney at the initial biopsy and 400 micrograms/g kidney 5 months later). Triamterene has been previously reported to cause acute reversible renal failure, but to our knowledge, this is the first case of irreversible renal failure due to intratubular obstruction by triamterene crystal deposition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, St-Luc Hospital, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Villeneuve
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dumont
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Dufresne
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Duran
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jobin
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D014223:Triamterene / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D014223:Triamterene