THE EFFECT OF LIGATION OF BRANCHES OF THE RENAL ARTERY

A growing tendency in operations on the kidney to regard lightly the ligation of renal arterial branches has led us to make a detailed study of the vascular changes following such a procedure. Marion,1in 1922, in an article on the enlarged pyelotomy incision for the removal of large renal calculi, advocated extending the pyelotomy incision radially into the parenchyma of the kidney in the direction of the axis of the stone. In prolonging this incision, he cuts the posterior branch of the renal artery and ligates the cut ends. He states that if there is damage to the renal parenchyma following this procedure, he has seen no resulting ill effects. In a more recent article, Eisendrath2favors double ligation and division of the retropelvic branch of the renal artery, and states that the area supplied by the ligated vessel will receive sufficient blood from adjacent arteries which