Idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis

Abstract

The world of surgery has been concerned with idiopathic retroperitoneal fibrosis (RPF) ever since 1948, when J. K. Ormond published the first case of ureteral stenosis following a retroperitoneal scleroinflammatory process due to unknown reasons. Until 1960, 82 such cases were reported in the literature. The authors present two new cases of RPF, located exclusively in the pelvic (subperitoneal) compartment of the retroperitoneal space. The literature on this subject is reviewed, current etiological theories are mentioned and treatment opportunities are discussed.