This course will provide a practical overview of tubulointerstitial and vascular diseases of the kidney commonly encountered in kidney biopsies, surgical resections and at autopsy. The course is designed for general surgical pathologists, pathologists with a special interest in kidney diseases and pathologists in training.

Ten cases presented will provide the basis for a broad overview of tubulointerstitial and vascular diseases encountered in native kidneys and where applicable, in the renal allograft. Entities to be discussed include acute and chronic interstitial nephritis, infection (including polyoma virus associated interstitial nephritis), granulomatous diseases, vasculitis, thrombotic and embolic processes and hypertensive diseases. The presentation will focus on clear diagnostic criteria and will compare and contrast other diseases considered in the differential diagnosis. The clinical and therapeutic implications of each diagnosis will be discussed, and information that is important to convey to the nephrologist will also be highlighted.

Each participant will receive a CD with representative images and clinical history from each case, as well as a comprehensive syllabus, which will provide discussion of each case with diagrams, tables and a current list of important references.

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to identify the cause of renal dysfunction as tubulointerstitial or vascular; be able to classify interstitial disease as acute, chronic, infectious or drug related (toxic); be able to identify morphologic features of polyoma (BK) virus associated interstitial nephritis; recognize and distinguish necrotizing arteritis from acute thrombotic disease and recognize hypertensive vascular disease and etiologic variants.