FAMILIAL INTERSTITIAL NEPHROPATHY WITHOUT HYPERURICEMIA

Progressive hereditary nephropathy is described in 6 members of a sing le family. Renal biopsies, performed in 3 patients, revealed tubular a trophy, interstitial fibrosis, and lymphomonocytic infiltration associ ated with severe vascular lesions. These features were disproportionat ely serious when related to age, arterial pressure, and renal function . Similar familial nephropathy has been reported in the literature, ge nerally in association with gout or asymptomatic hyperuricemia. The pa tients described here had normal blood concentrations of uric acid. It is proposed that the members of the present group of patients are suf fering from the same interstitial nephropathy as that described in the literature and that the hyperuricemia found by other investigators is coincidental and does not play a pathogenetic role.