[Traumatic rupture of a horseshoe kidney]

Abstract

One-third to one-half of all patients with horseshoe kidney are asymptomatic and the condition is found incidentally. This congenital renal anomaly has shown as a predisponent condition for renal injury in blunt abdominal trauma, but often the degree of injury has a nonoperative therapy. Horseshoe kidney rupture is an exceptional pathology that require a complete diagnostic study to make an adequate management when surgical therapy is indicated. We present a fifteen-year-old male with previously unsuspected horseshoe kidney that suffered an atypical right upper-pole and mesorrenal kidney rupture after low-velocity-impact blunt abdominal trauma. A correct presurgical diagnose let a deferred surgical approach with right lower pole and horseshoe renal isthmus preservation. The trauma conditions, an excesive clinic manifestation, a clinical investigation about known congenital simultaneous anomallies and typical radiological signs, can suggest this infrequent patology. Computed tomography provides the best radiological information.