**1. Introduction**

The congenital anomalies of the urinary tract include a large number of diseases caused by anomalies in the morphogenesis of the urinary system. These anomalies include obstructive

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and nonobstructive dilatation of the urinary tract that can be associated with alterations in the number, size and/or position of the kidneys [1, 2].

become a male. In the opposite circumstance, the fetus will become a female. In conclusion, from the embryological point of view, an individual could be a female if the masculine fea-

Congenital Anomalies of Urinary Tract and Anomalies of Fetal Genitalia

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Congenital urinary abnormalities are often associated with the kidney anomalies, and there is a wide range of malformations resulting from disorders in the normal development process [9]. Malformations of renal parenchyma may occur due to the abnormal nephron development—in cases of renal dysplasia, renal agenesis and renal polycystic disease. The migration abnormalities of kidney embryo buds are found in renal ectopy and in the mismatched mal-

Abnormalities in the development of the urinary tract system cause duplicated collective systems, posterior urethral valves and obstructions of the pyeloureteral junction. Defects may be

**a.** Nephropathy involves the renal parenchyma and refers to multicystic kidney disease (MCDK), renal dysplasia disease, renal agenesis defect, congenital polycystic kidney disease and other anomalies (nephromegaly, trisomy 13, Meckel syndrome, Beckwith-

**b.** Uropathies represent the pathology of the urinary tract, and by the site of the defect, they can be pyeloureteral and ureterovesical, or they can refer to the vesicoureteral reflux and to the posterior urethral valve. Many authors also consider here the urachal fistula, the

For a better understanding of urinary tract abnormalities, we will summarize the classifica-

**a.** *Complete bilateral renal agenesis* is a rare condition, not compatible with extrauterine life. The physical appearance of the babies is very characteristic (the so-called Potter syndrome). The absence of the kidneys may be suspected before conventional postmortem autopsy. Fetal ultrasound examination is very difficult, due to the absence of amniotic

**b.** *Unilateral renal agenesis* or the 'congenital solitary kidney' is probably the most difficult diagnosis of renal malformations. There is a consensus in terms of a definitive diagnosis,

**c.** *Renal aplasia*—there is a fetal bud, but it does not develop into a normal functioning organ.

The anomalies of the urinary system can be divided into nephropathies and uropathies:

unilateral or bilateral, and several types of defects may be associated [1–3, 6, 7].

urachal cyst and the exstrophy of the urinary bladder [10–12].

tion of kidney malformations that may accompany these anomalies:

The pelvis and ureter are usually absent or are rudimentary.

autopsy being the only conclusive method.

tures will not develop [7, 8].

Wiedemann syndrome) [6–8].

**I.** Anomalies in number

fluid.

**2.2. Classification**

formations [10].

We will discuss the congenital anomalies of the urinary and genital tract, with a short review of kidney abnormalities. These malformations may coexist within the same case, and this is due to their common embryonic origin [3].

The reno-urinary anomalies occur more frequently in males than in females, the ratio being 2.5:1 (M-F), and there are many cases with family aggregation. The incidence is 3–4 at 1000 lives or 1–5% of all pregnancies [4, 5]. If including all cases detected at post-mortem fetal autopsies, the prevalence of these malformations is much higher [2].
