The Practical Importance of Infantile Kidney in Renal Diagnosis

The different varieties of kidney anomalies have been so thoroughly catalogued, and the classification so often repeated by various authorities, that the profession has come to be more or less conversant with their existence. We wish to describe here a type of kidney not usually included in these classifications, which, when present, is of vital importance to the surgeon, as it may easily pass unrecognized if ordinary methods of examination are used. The particular anomaly to which we refer is the condition in which a large, hypertrophied kidney exists on one side and an infantile kidney on the other, the urine from the deficient kidney, with all chemical and microscopic methods of diagnosis, appearing entirely normal. The concentrating power of the kidney is also normal. The quantity of urine secreted, however, is so small and the function so decreased, that this kidney alone may be insufficient for life. On examination,