Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Feb;84(998):145-52.
doi: 10.1259/bjr/79479004. Epub 2010 Mar 11.

Accessory or additional renal arteries show no relevant effects on the width of the upper urinary tract: a 64-slice multidetector CT study in 1072 patients with 2132 kidneys

B Glodny  1 , K Rapf, V Unterholzner, P Rehder, K J Hofmann, A Strasak, R Herwig, J Petersen
Affiliations

Accessory or additional renal arteries show no relevant effects on the width of the upper urinary tract: a 64-slice multidetector CT study in 1072 patients with 2132 kidneys

B Glodny et al. Br J Radiol. 2011 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to find out on an unselected patient group whether crossing vessels have an influence on the width of the renal pelvis and what independent predictors of these target variables exist.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 1072 patients with arterially contrasted CT scans were included. The 2132 kidneys were supplied by 2736 arteries.

Results: On the right side, there were 293 additional and accessory arteries in 286 patients, and on the left side there were 304 in 271 patients. 154 renal pelves were more than 15 mm wide. The greatest independent factor for hydronephrosis on one side was hydronephrosis on the contralateral side (p<0.0001 each). Independent predictors for the width of the renal pelvis on the right side were the width of the renal pelvis on the left, female gender, increasing age and height; for the left side, predictors were the width of the renal pelvis on the right, concrements, parapelvic cysts and great rotation of the upper pole of the kidney to dorsal. Crossing vessels had no influence on the development of hydronephrosis. Only anterior crossing vessels on the right side are associated with widening of the renal pelvis by 1 mm, without making it possible to identify the vessel as an independent factor in multivariate regression models.

Conclusion: The width of the renal pelvis on the contralateral side is the strongest independent predictor for hydronephrosis and the width of the renal pelvis. There is no link between crossing vessels and the width of the renal pelvis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The width of the renal pelvis was measured in the axial plane in the area where the pelvis leaves the kidney. Perpendicular to the “longitudinal axis” drawn in the image, the largest distance between a point on the anterior wall of the pelvis (“A”) and another point on the posterior wall (“B”) was taken as a measure for the AP (anterior-posterior) diameter of the renal pelvis. In each case, the CT slice showing the largest distance between the anterior and the posterior wall of the pelvis was chosen for the measurement.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Coronal maximum-intensity projection reconstruction of the right kidney in an arterial phase showing an additional renal artery (a), which passes by the caval vein (*) and the ureteropelvic junction (arrow) anteriorly (b). Coronal maximum- intensity projection reconstruction of another right kidney in an arterial phase showing an additional renal artery (c), which passes by the caval vein (*) anteriorly but by the ureter (arrow) posteriorly (d).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Width of the renal pelvis on the right side subject to the different groups of crossing arteries (CA) (a) on the right and (b) on the left side. ns, not significant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Johnston JH. The pathogenesis of hydronephrosis in children. Br J Urol 1969;41:724–34 - PubMed
    1. Zhang X, Xu K, Fu B, Zhang J, Lang B, Ai X, et al. The retroperitoneal laparoscopic Hellström technique for pelvi-ureteric junction obstruction from a crossing vessel. BJU Int 2007;100:1335–8 - PubMed
    1. Braun P, Guilabert JP, Kazmi F. Multidetector computed tomography arteriography in the preoperative assessment of patients with ureteropelvic junction obstruction. Eur J Radiol 2007;61:170–5 - PubMed
    1. Sampaio FJ. Vascular anatomy at the ureteropelvic junction. Urol Clin North Am 1998;25:251–8 - PubMed
    1. Rehman J, Landman J, Sundaram C, Clayman RV. Missed anterior crossing vessels during open retroperitoneal pyeloplasty: laparoscopic transperitoneal discovery and repair. J Urol 2001;166:593–6 - PubMed

MeSH terms