Ectopic intrathoracic kidney in a pediatric patient

Renal ectopia refers to a kidney situated in any location other than the renal fossa. It occurs in about 1 in 1000 births, but only 1 in 10 of them have been diagnosed. In this study, we report the case of a female patient, 2 years old, in whom a mass in the left hemithorax was evidenced on the chest radiograph. Ultrasonography showed that the patient’s left kidney was in the chest, the left of the heart, an examination confirmed later by computed tomography. Due to the difficulty in elucidating whether renal ectopy would be secondary to diaphragmatic failure or only to eventration, a nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the thorax was requested, which proved that renal ectopy was secondary to eventration of the diaphragm. As in the case reported, diaphragmatic eventration is not usually symptomatic, nor does it generate clinical repercussion, and does not require surgical treatment most of the time. Thus, it was decided to keep follow-up at outpatient level. In addition, although rare, intrathoracic kidney should not be overlooked in the differential diagnosis of intrathoracic mass.