IN 1839 Frohlichfirst described the clinical entity now referred to as the prunebelly syndrome. At that time, although it was evident that the abdominal musculature was absent, the associated urinarytract anomalies were not recognized. The thin skin and omental covering of the abdomen appeared wrinkled and wizened like a dried prune, hence the appellation "prune-belly" (Fig 1). Parker, in 1895, called attention to the accompanying hydronephrosis, hydro-ureter, megalocystis, and undescended testes as comprising this syndrome.
Although 146 cases of this syndrome have been reported in the literature,1-13 including the more recent report of Williams and Burkholder7 in August 1967, none has detailed the survival data of these children. We wish to add our 19 cases to this total, thus bringing the overall number of cases to 165, and to discuss the clinical findings and survival in thissyndrome.
Our Series
Since 1945, 19 patients with prune-belly syndrome have been seen at