Complete absence, or agenesis, of the urinary bladder is an extremely rare developmental anomaly, encountered in only 1 of nearly 600,000 patients seen at Duke Hospital in the past 28 years. Less than 10 instances of agenesis of the bladder are noted in the literature, and these are primarily of academic interest, noted at autopsy.1 Campbell reports an incidence of seven cases in nearly 20,000 autopsies, most of which showed multiple developmental anomalies.2 Some recorded cases of agenesis actually represent hypoplasia, contracture, or extreme degrees of exstrophy. This report deals with an instance of agenesis of the urinary bladder with several interesting clinical features.
Report of a Case
A 3 1/2-year-old American Indian girl was admitted to the pediatric service of Duke Hospital in August, 1958, for evaluation of congenital heart disease. Complete cardiologic evaluation, including cardiac catheterization, disclosed a small interventricular septal defect, and it was felt that