Appearance of a partial nephrogram with an absent kidney.

A case is reported of a 16-year-old female who sustained a gunshot wound to the left upper abdomen. Early opacification of a structure in the left upper quadrant on an excretory urogram was suggestive of a nephrogram. The left kidney was absent at operation. The diagnostic limitations of excretory urography in the trauma patient and the alternative diagnostic techniques, radionuclide scanning, arteriography, or tomography, or possibly operative intervention, are recommended. Although not found in our patients, a thorough search for an ectopic kidney should be made.