Hemorrhagic infarction of the kidneys associated with renal vein thrombosis has been reported in newborn infants. This is commonly seen in infants with severe diarrheal diseases and marked dehydration.1,2 Rarely, primary thrombosis of the renal vein and hemorrhagic infarction occur.2,3 However, renal vein thrombosis and renal hemorrhage are not always associated; sometimes the one is present without the other.2-5
The present paper deals with six cases of hemorrhagic necrosis of the renal pyramids occurring in the perinatal period, unassociated with renal vein thrombosis. These were seen in a series of 1,000 consecutive necropsies on stillborn and newborn infants done at the K.K. Hospital, Singapore, over a two-year period. Five of these occurred in Chinese infants and one in an Indian infant. This racial predilection is probably not of any significance as the ratio of Chinese to Indians in the general population is much the same. Five of