Left thoracic kidney: a rare finding at intravenous urography.

Thoracic kidney is a rare type of renal ectopia. Patients with thoracic kidneys are usually asymptomatic and the condition is usually discovered incidentally during radiological evaluation for other conditions or during thoracic surgery. An intravenous urography done for a thirty-eight year old man referred on account of a seemingly small right kidney on an abdominal ultrasound scan, showed a normal right kidney and a left thoracic kidney. Thoracic kidney is a rare but an important cause of a thoracic 'mass' or 'elevated hemi diaphragm'. It should be considered in the evaluation of such patients to prevent unnecessary surgical interventions and image guided biopsies.