Nephroptosis and nephropexy--hung up on the past?

Abstract

The label of 'an ineffective treatment for an imaginary disease' has largely been successfully stuck to the condition of nephroptosis and its surgical management, nephropexy. As a result, younger urologists, especially in the US and UK, have little knowledge of the condition nor why such accusations were made. In this review we explore the historical background to this statement, including descriptions of some of the more exotic surgical procedures employed in the past and visit the diagnosis again in the setting of the modern era, armed with more sophisticated diagnostic tools and less invasive and thus morbid surgical techniques. We aim to demonstrate that with appropriate diagnostic criteria, the diagnosis of symptomatic nephroptosis can be reliably made and that laparoscopic techniques provide an excellent approach in the successful surgical management of this condition.