Bilateral Polycystic Disease of the Kidneys: A Follow-Up of Two Hundred and Eighty-Four Patients and Their Families.

Abstract

The physician usually looks at bilateral polycystic disease of the kidneys as an inherited condition characterized by enlarged kidneys, uremia, and a gloomy prognosis and lets it go at that. Dalgaard has made a painstaking analysis of three hundred fifty patients with bilateral polycystic disease of the kidneys, which amply fulfills his stated aim of adding to our knowledge of the heredity and the clinical aspects of this condition. The author began his study by attempting to ascertain<i>all</i>the cases of bilateral polycystic kidneys that appeared in Greater Copenhagen from 1920 to 1953, inclusive. He examined the card indexes and annual statistics of the medical and surgical departments of the Copenhagen hospitals, the autopsy records of the hospitals (143 propositi were culled from 98,000 autopsy records), the card indices of the radiology departments of the hospitals (he examined all available x-rays of kidneys said to contain cysts of any