[Physiopathological importance of renal ptosis evaluated by renography and photoscintigraphy]

After looking at the possible physiopathological role of renal ptosis in the pathogenesis of arterial hypertension and urinary inflammation, the results of an epidemiological study carried out on about 600 reno-scintigraphic investigations are reported. The study demonstrated the high frequency of the condition in males and its frequent association with monolateral changes in the renographic curve. The second part of the paper assesses the reversibility of renal ptosis and the renographic change in 13 patients in passing from the sitting to Trendelenburg's position. The results show that the change in flow, which may be the cause of the renographic change in the ptosic kidney, is reversible in many patients as it disappears or reduces as the kidney position is corrected. In other patients in whom this does not occur, it can be presumed that the reduction in flow has an organic genesis, namely fibromuscular dysplasia of the renal artery which, as the literature shows, may be looked on as a complication of ptosis.