Woman with four kidneys and four ureters

  Recently, a 25-year-old Ms. Xian was examined at Gaozhou People’s Hospital for recurrent lumbar pain with urinary discomfort, and was found to have four kidneys and four ureters, one of which had been severely waterlogged. According to a search, such cases have not been reported in the western part of Guangdong.  According to Ms. Xian, who is from Gaozhou City, she has always been in good health and did not feel anything different from normal people. 2008, less than three months after giving birth to a child, she felt some pain and discomfort in her lower back and often had the feeling of wanting to urinate, but she often urinated very little, sometimes not even, and had a burning pain when urinating. At that time, she went to a hospital and was diagnosed with kidney stones, and after taking a lot of Chinese medicine, her symptoms still recurred. Later, she was introduced to the second urology department of Gaozhou People’s Hospital, and after detailed examination by Director Feng Zhenhua, it was found that Ms. Xian had bilateral duplicate kidney and duplicate ureteral malformation, and the right duplicate suprarenal kidney and ureteral heavy effusion, which was the culprit of Ms. Xian’s back pain and urinary discomfort. Finally, the root of the disease was found. If the conventional approach was adopted, it would require an incision of more than 10 centimeters in each of the patient’s abdomen and waist, which is traumatic, risky and unsightly, and the patient herself did not agree. After thorough consideration, Director Feng Zhenhua decided to adopt a new surgical approach and perform a combined ureteroscopic and laparoscopic surgery for the patient, which only requires four small holes the size of a chopstick head in the patient’s abdomen. Since the atrophied kidney is relatively thin and adheres very closely to the other kidney on the same side, the slightest injury to the kidney or ureter during the surgery can lead to postoperative leakage. After an hour of careful surgery, we finally succeeded in removing the right duplicated suprarenal kidney and ureter for Ms. Xian. On the second day after the operation, the patient was able to get out of bed and urinate normally, and the symptoms of back pain were relieved.  According to Feng Zhenhua, director of the Department of Urology, this disease is a congenital double kidney and double ureteral duplication malformation, which is very rare and only encounters one in about 100,000 people. The combined ureteroscopy and laparoscopy is the most advanced minimally invasive surgical procedure for this disease, but it requires doctors to have more skilled ureteroscopy and laparoscopy skills to carry out, and there are only a few large hospitals in the province that can carry out this surgery, and no relevant reports have been seen in western Guangdong.