*   Ultrasound Division, ASL Roma B, Rome, Italy.
**  Department of Prenatal Diagnosis, Fetal-Maternal Medical Centre "ARTEMISIA" Rome, Italy.

Introduction

Double renal artery is the most common renal morphological variation.  It usually does not have any impact on the function of the kidneys or any other clinical manifestation. It may cause a serious complication during the urological surgery or renal transplant. The supplementary artery usually originates from the aorta. Most of the cases are unilateral but bilateral variant can be found as well. Double renal arteries may coexist with other uro-genital anomalies such as double renal vein, double ureter, double testicular artery.

Case 1

This is a case of the bilateral double renal artery diagnosed at 22 week of gestation during the ultrasound screening. Patient was a 34-year-old G2P1 with no personal or family history. Her pregnancy was uncomplicated. The ultrasound examination did not reveal any additional findings.

Image 1: This is a coronal view of the fetal abdomen, Doppler imaging of the aorta branching into iliac arteries, note double renal arteries originating from the abdominal aorta.

Case 2

This is a case of the unilateral double renal artery. It was diagnosed during the ultrasound examination at 22 weeks of gestation. Patient was a 25- year-old G1P0 with no positive family or personal history. No other additional findings were found.

Images 1,2,3,4: Images show a coranal view with Dopple imaging of the unilateral double renal artery arising from the aorta.

Image 5: Image shows both renal arteries, double artery on the one side and the single renal artery on the other.

References

1. Bordei P, Sapte E, Iliescu D.Double renal arteries originating from the aorta.Surg Radiol Anat 2004; 26: 474-479.