A case of tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis syndrome accompanied by subclinical choroiditis

BACKGROUND: Tubulointerstitial nephritis and uveitis (TINU) syndrome is an uveits characterized by complications of idiopathic acute tubulointerstitial nephritis, and most cases present only anterior uveitis. We report a case of TINU syndrome in which the presence of choroiditis was revealed by multimodal imaging. CASE PRESENTATION: A 12-year-old male visited our hospital with a 6-day history of ocular pain and hyperemia. Conjunctival and ciliary injections, 1 + flare and 3 + cells of anterior chamber inflammation with mutton fat keratic precipitates were observed in both eyes (OU), together with redness and swelling of the optic disc OU. Laboratory tests showed slightly high levels of soluble IL-2R and serum β2 microglobulin and markedly high levels of urinary β2 microglobulin. The diagnosis of probable TINU syndrome was established on the basis of bilateral uveitis and urinalysis results in accordance with a clinical criteria of tubulointerstitial nephritis. With treatment with oral prednisolone (PSL) at 20 mg/day, ocular findings improved, and the dose of PSL was gradually reduced and withdrawn 6 months later. However, 1 month later from the withdrawal, ocular inflammation recurred with the presence of retinal exudates and snowball vitreous opacities in the peripheral retina OU. Fluorescein angiography showed leakages from peripheral retinal vessels and staining corresponding to retinal exudates. Indocyanine green angiography showed hypofluorescent dots scattered over the ocular fundus. Optical coherence tomography revealed the presence of choroidal thickening. Laser speckle flowgraphy color map showed a relatively cooler color. Findings from these multimodal images indicated the presence of subclinical choroiditis; therefore, oral PSL was administered again, and ocular inflammatory findings were improved. CONCLUSIONS: TINU syndrome can exhibit subclinical choroiditis detected with multimodal imaging. Further studies are necessary to determine the frequency of subclinical choroiditis in TINU syndrome. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12886-023-03172-0.