RT Journal
T1 IDiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1960
FD November 19
VO 174
IS 12
SP 1632
OP 1633
DO 10.1001/jama.1960.03030120072018
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1960.03030120072018
AB Increasing numbers of reports in recent years have called attention to a rather bizarre disease entity in which one or, typically, both ureters are obstructed by fibrous tissue surrounding them in the retroperitoneal space. This subject is presented in this issue of The Journal by Simon and Nygaard, p. 1569. Etiology of the fibrosis has resisted definition although a variety of hypotheses have been advanced. Confinement of such fibrous tissue to its retroperitoneal location may well be explained by the presence of retroperitoneal facia, as described by Daselar and Anson, which encloses the abdominal aorta, vena cava, and both upper urinary tracts. Certainly the most common location of the fibrous mat, namely, overlying the great vessels from above their bifurcation at the level of the second and third lumbar vertebrae and extending inferiorly below the bifurcation of the iliac vessels, is in accord with this anatomical observation. The relationship of