Horseshoe kidney--a case report

The congenital anomalies of kidney are important as they may cause renal failure in middle age group. Horseshoe kidney is the most common fusion anomaly. It has been said to occur in every 400 births and is seen in approximately 1 out of 300 pyelographies. A horseshoe kidney was observed in a thirty-two year old male in the archives of the Department of Anatomy, PGIMER, Chandigarh. The kidney was placed at lower level as compared to its normal position. The lower poles were fused to form the isthmus opposite to the L4 vertebra. There was no extra renal anomaly. Relation of structures in hilum was normal on right side while on left side pelvis was anterior to vein and artery. The right and left renal arteries arose as usual as lateral branches of the aorta just below the level of superior mesenteric artery. Two accessory renal arteries originated from the ventral aspect of aorta just above the isthmus. Right kidney was drained by three renal veins directly into the inferior vena cava while the left kidney was drained by a renal vein which had three tributaries outside the hilum. The right kidney appeared normal under the light microscope while in the left kidney, glomeruli were decreased and glomerular space appeared more. Some of the glomeruli appeared atrophied and filled with eosinophilic material. The horseshoe kidney has been estimated to be occurring in 0.25% of the general population and is more common in men.