The Fetal Renal Secretion and its Significance in Congenital Deformities of the Ureters and Urethra

Abstract

Fetal renal secretion can be shown radio-graphically in human fetuses from and including the 4th-5th fetal month. It is possible to establish chemically the secretion of the contrast medium of the Perabrodil type by determining the iodine content of the fetal urine. The placenta is permeable to contrast medium of this type at least in the direction of fetus-mother. The prestenotic dilatation of the urinary tract occurring in newborn children with congenital ureteral or urethal stenosis should, therefore, to a preponderant extent at least, be ascribed to the successive rise in pressure which the continuous secretion of urine, that has been going on for several months, must cause.