THE UNILATERAL FUSED KIDNEY

Abstract

Of congenital renal anomalies, the unilateral fused kidney is probably the rarest. Hunter,¹in 1785, presented the first authentic case, and since then scattered reports appeared in the literature, which were reviewed by Stein.²The rarity of the condition may be surmised from the fact that of thirty-four renal anomalies found by Stewart and Lodge³in 6,500 necropsies, only one unilateral fused kidney was encountered. Morris,⁴in 15,908 necropsies, also found only one case. The greatest majority of the unilateral fused kidneys were discovered on necropsy, the patients having died from some other causes, while in a few instances the condition was found on the operating table. Colmers⁵was the first to recognize the anomaly in a living patient by double ureteral catheterization and pyelography. Since then five more cases were reported by Stein⁶(one case); Bugbee and Losee⁷(two cases), and, more