Ramified pelves and their blood supply of the horseshoe kidney in 2 Japanese.

Gross anatomy of the horseshoe kidney in 2 Japanese patients clarified that the long renal pelvis consists of 4 funnel-shaped tubes (Pelvis renalis ramificata) in the hilus opening in the ventral direction, and that the 4th tube can drain half of the isthmus. The renal artery, on the other hand, divided into 2 dorsal and ventral branches around the long pelvis in the hilus, the latter of which gave rise to the branches to the first and second tubes, but the former the branch to the third. Another artery arose from the lower portion of the abdominal aorta to supply the 4th tube in the half of the isthmus. This method of blood supply was principally in good accordance with that described by Graves (1971) except for a branch from the inferior mesenteric artery to the isthmus. These pelvic ramification and pattern of blood distribution were summarized in Fig. 9.