Renal papillary necrosis following regular consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Since phenacetin was removed from the Drug Tariff in New Zealand in 1974 there has been a decrease in the number of patients with analgesic nephropathy entering dialysis-transplant programmes. Since then there has been an increase in the consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. Experimental work in animals has shown that these drugs can cause renal papillary necrosis. We report two men with sever osteoarthritis who regularly ingested anti-inflammatory agents and developed papillary necrosis with renal insufficiency and hypertension. One patient consumed 0.5 kg of indomethacin over 10 years and the other 3.5 kg of ibuprofen, 200 g of naproxen and an uncertain amount of ketoprofen over 13 years. The increased chronic usage of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs could bring about an upsurge in the incidence of papillary necrosis.