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Three hundred consecutive normal intravenous urograms were studied. The position of the ureter relative to the vertebral pedicles was assessed at different levels in patients from different racial groups. Medial placement of the ureter (where it overlay or was medial to a pedicle) was considerably commoner in black patients of African origin than in white Northern Europeans. In both races it occurred more frequently in males and in the young, and it was more common on the right side than on the left. The recognition of this normal variant, particularly in the black patient, is important in the interpretation of intravenous urograms.

The shape of the full bladder was studied during the course of 70 consecutive normal intravenous urograms. A conical or pear-shaped bladder was more frequently seen in patients of black African origin than in white Northern Europeans and more frequently in males than in females. This configuration was found in the absence of pelvic pathology and is considered a normal variant. Non-pathological medial deviation of the ureters is not closely associated, suggesting that the mechanisms for medial placement of the ureters and conical bladder are not necessarily interrelated.