Different Types of Kidney Enlargement by Compensatory Hypertrophy and Expansive Lesion (Hydronephrosis, Fibrolipomatosis) As Measured at Three-Dimensional Angiography

Abstract

Measurements of the length, width, and thickness of the kidney were made via three-dimensional renal angiography. The results show that in compensatory hypertrophy the kidney undergoes a true growth, with active involvement of the capsule, essentially without change of the kidney shape. As no true growth of the renal substance occurs in expansive lesions (hydronephrosis, fibrolipomatosis), the enlargement of the kidney is due to distention, without active involvement of the capsule. This type of enlargement thus causes a deformation of the kidney shape, which, in extreme cases, resembles a sphere more than an ellipsoid.