Renal tubular acidosis in children

Renal tubular acidosis (RTA) is a condition in which there is a defect in renal excretion of hydrogen ion, or reabsorption of bicarbonate, or both, which occurs in the absence of or out of proportion to an impairment in the glomerular filtration rate [1]. Thus, RTA is distinguished from the renal acidosis that develops as a result of advanced chronic kidney disease [2–4]. Albright originally described the disease as “renal acidosis resulting from tubular insufficiency without glomerular insufficiency” to emphasize this distinction [5]. The term was reduced to “renal tubular acidosis” by Pines and Mudge in their studies published in 1951 [6]. These renal tubular abnormalities can occur as an inherited disease or can result from other disorders or toxins that affect the renal tubules.