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THE PHILIPPINE 



Journal of Science 



B. Tropical Medicine 



Vol. XI SEPTEMBER, 1916 No. 5 



CONGENITAL BILATERAL ABSENCE OF KIDNEYS IN A 

 140-MILLIMETER PIG EMBRYO ^ 



By Abturo Garcia 



(From the Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine and Surgerif, 



University of the Philippines) 



INTRODUCTION 



ONE PLATE AND 3 TEXT FIGTHIES 



A review of the literature on renal malformations and mal- 

 developments has demonstrated the fact that, while unilateral 

 congenital absence and maldevelopment of kidneys have been 

 frequently recorded in the human and lower animals, bilateral 

 cases, though observed with comparative frequency in embryos, 

 have been reported but once or twice in older human beings. 



There is naturally an obvious reason for this difference in 

 frequency of occurrence. While unilateral congenital absence 

 or defective conditions of kidneys are compatible with extra- 

 uterine life, when both organs are wanting, life is hardly con- 

 ceivable; and, of course, cases that go on to adult life are much 

 more apt to be observed and reported than those conditions 

 which might exist only in utero. It is also for this reason that 

 congenital unilateral renal defects acquire much greater im- 

 portance to the clinician and to the surgeon than similar bilateral 

 defects. It is now a surgical routine for men doing kidney 

 work to keep in mind congenital unilateral absence of kidney. 

 Nephrectomy in such cases would invariably be fatal. 



As to absence of both kidneys, however, though it lacks the 

 clinical importance of unilateral renal aplasia or congenital 

 absence of one kidney, its developmental significance is of such 

 interest to students of embryology that a careful report of all 

 such cases would seem warranted. It is for this account that 



* Received for publication August, 1916. 



146182 191 



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