The pathogenesis of renal dysplasia. II. The significance of lateral and medial ectopy of the ureteric orifice.

Renal hypoplasia and dysplasia may be primary malformations linked to a panureteric bud deformity or result from damage to the developing nephrons caused by abnormal urodynamic pressures, Kidneys with misplaced ureteric orifices were graded, according to histologic criteria, on the hypodysplasia scale. With lateral ectopy of the ureteric orifices with and without congenital urethral obstruction, the grades correlated with specific orifice positions. The grades of kidneys with caudal ectopy of the ureters indicated a more general correlation. Dysgenesis of the bud and nephrogenic mesenchyme may account for the renal hypodysplasia when the ureteric orifice is found to be ectopic.