Impaired kidney function in lithium therapy

Long-term therapy with lithium may be associated with a broad spectrum of functional and structural side-effects in the kidney. Among these features, nephrogenic diabetes insipidus is the most frequent and it can be expected to occur in 20-70% of the patients. Diabetes insipidus is the result of a lithium induced resistance of collecting ducts to antidiuretic hormone. Additional functional disturbances are represented by renal tubular acidosis and consequences of hypercalcemia. Structural alterations of the kidney have a rare occurrence. In the literature, there are accounts of chronic tubulo-interstitial nephritis, acute tubular necrosis and few cases of glomerulopathies. Our report of a patient with chronic interstital nephritis is supplemented by a brief discussion of the diverse picture of the nephrotoxicity of lithium.