Variable symptomatology in idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis

Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis is uncommon enough to be placed low down on a list of differential diagnoses of any problem facing a general surgeon in a district hospital. In this paper, 4 cases of retroperitoneal fibrosis are described, all of whom presented within a 5-year period to the same surgeon; each described a different symptomatology. This paper serves to reiterate the diversity of presenting features in retroperitoneal fibrosis and to demonstrate that this condition may not be as rare as is widely believed.