Venous impression on the calyceal system.

Arterial impressions on the pelvi-calyceal system are commonly seen on the intravenous urogram and have been well documented (4, 6). In general, this type of pressure defect is sufficiently characteristic to be recognized easily. By correlating Supported in part by Public Health Service Research Grant No. NIH FR-66 OG5IRISI the findings on “angio-pyelograms,” Kreel and Pyle (4) were able to classify and illustrate six groups of arterial impressions on the calyces and pelvis. Other investigators have reported indentation of the pelvis and ureter by varices (1–3). Angio-graphically documented cases, however, with impression on the calyceal system by the renal vein have not, to our knowledge, been reported. In a large series of patients undergoing urography and renal angiography in this institution (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, N. Y.) during the past few years, ten cases showed striking filling defects of a superior infundibulum, caused apparently by pressure from an adjacent renal vein. Three...