Developmental disorders

I./4.3.: History

It is important to emphasize that horseshoe kidney does not affect life expectancy by itself, it does not affect the quality of life, does not complicate pargnancy and dilivery. The natural history is determinated by the associated conditions of the genito-urinary system, their severity and their need for treatment, which highly depends on the type of the developmental anomalies. It is shown that the incidence of malignant tumors is higher in horseshoe kidney than in normal variants. 45% of these are renal cell carcinoma, 28% Wilms tumor, 20% transitional cell carcinoma (3-4 times higher incidence than in normal kidney) 7% sarcoma. Carcinoid can also be seen quite rarely. The higher incidence of malignancy supports the teratogen version of the etiology of horseshoe kidney.