Acute mechanical duodenal obstruction due to giant hydronephrosis: an unusual cause of acute abdomen.

Giant hydronephrosis (GH) is a rare clinical entity with about 600 cases and defined as the adult renal pelvis containing greater than 1 L of fluid, or at least 1.6% of the body weight or kidney occupying the hemiabdomen. The pelvic-ureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction is the most frequent cause of GH. We thus report a case of massive abdominal distension due to GH secondary to PUJ obstruction who presented with acute duodenal obstruction due to extrinsic compression and was managed with percutaneous nephrostomy followed by open nephrectomy.