Authors: Kazuo Ishikawa Shota Nakao Gen Murakami Jose Francisco RodríguezVázquez Tetsuya Matsuoka Makoto Nakamuro Takeshi Shimazu
Publish Date: 2014/05/10
Volume: 36, Issue: 10, Pages: 1079-1087
Abstract
Recently the radiological concept of retroperitoneal interfascial planes has been widely accepted to explain the extension of retroperitoneal pathologies This study aimed to explore embryologically based corroborative evidence which remains to be elucidated for this conceptUsing serial or semiserial transverse sections from 29 human fetuses at the 5th–25th week of fetal age we microscopically observed the development of the retroperitoneal fasciae and other structures in the retroperitoneal connective tissue A hypothesis for the formation of the interfascial planes was generated from the developmental study and analysis of retroperitoneal fasciae in computed tomography images from 224 patientsWhereas the loose connective tissue was uniformly distributed in the retroperitoneum by the 9th week the primitive renal and transversalis fasciae appeared at the 10th–12th week as previous research has noted By the 23rd week the renal fascia transversalis fascia and primitive adipose tissue of the flank pad emerged In addition the primitive lateroconal fascia which runs parallel to and close to the posterior renal fascia emerged between the renal fascia and the adipose tissue of the flank pad Conversely preexisting loose connective tissue was sandwiched between the opposing fasciae and was compressed and narrowed by the developing organs and fatty tissuesThrough this developmental study we provided the hypothesis that the compressed loose connective tissue and both opposed fasciae compose the interfascial planes Analysis of the thickened retroperitoneal fasciae in computed tomography images supported this hypothesis Further developmental or histological studies are required to verify our hypothesis
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