KIDNEYS
Anomalies.
—Nation1 states that renal agenesia implies the complete absence of renal tissue. The renal anlage develops in most cases, even in the absence of a ureter, but is usually absorbed unless normal fusion with the ureter occurs.Three cases of bilateral renal agenesia from a series of 27,000 autopsies are reported. This makes the total number of reported cases 124. Besides the 3 cases described in this paper, only 3 cases in which the abnormality has been limited to the mesonephric and metanephric systems have been reported.Twenty-seven cases of unilateral renal agenesia are cited. Fourteen of these were encountered in a series of 27,000 autopsies at the Los Angeles County Hospital, a ratio of 1 to 1,929. Five cases were found in a series of 1,831 autopsies at the Huntington Memorial Hospital, an incidence of 1 in 366 autopsies. The ratio for the combined series is