title: Signficance of tubulointerstitial lesions in kidney biopsy specimen of nephrotic patients in Iraq.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tubulointerstitial lesions (TIL) adversely affect the prognosis of various glomerulonephritis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the significance of TIL in the cortical area of renal biopsy specimens.
  
  
  METHODS
  A clinicopathologic prospective study was performed on patients with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (NS). The presence of TIL was assessed qualitatively by light microscopic observation and was correlated with several histopathologic and clinical parameters at biopsy time, as well as with status at final follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total number of patients was 136 with a mean duration of follow-up of 23.8 -/+ 11.9 months. In all patients with idiopathic NS, the presence of TIL in the cortical area was correlated significantly with hypertension at presentation, response to treatment, and outcome. Histopathologically, TIL correlated with glomerular lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It was concluded that qualitative evaluation of TIL in the cortex could reflect glomerular injury and could contribute to the assessment of prognosis in patients with idiopathic NS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Basrah College of Medicine, Basrah, Iraq. aambaam@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Abbas Ali
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mansour
authors.forename: Ihsan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Al-Shamma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007493:Iraq; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D009404:Nephrotic Syndrome / Q000473:pathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index