Gerota’s Fascia

Other Known Aliases – Renal fascia

Definition – Connective tissue layers covering the kidneys and adrenal glands

Clinical Significance – This connective tissue encapsulates these organs and must be excised to perform nephrectomies and adrenalectomies.  It has 4 attachments:

• Anterior attachment – Connects the anterior layer of the renal fascia of the opposite kidney.
• Posterior attachment – Connects the psoas fascia and the body of the vertebrae.
• Superior attachment – The anterior and posterior layers fuse at the upper pole of the kidney and then split to enclose the adrenal gland. At the upper part of the adrenal gland they again fuse to form the suspensory ligament of the adrenal gland and fuse with the diaphragmatic fascia.
• Inferior attachment – The posterior layer descends downwards and fuses with the iliac fascia. The anterior layer blends with the connective tissue of the iliac fossa.

History – Named after Dimitrie D. Gerota (1867-1939), who was a Romanian physician and professor of surgical anatomy and experimental surgery at the University of Bucharest.  He was also the first radiologist in Romania and developed a method for injecting lymphatic vessels known as “The Gerota Method”

References

1. Firkin BG and Whitwirth JA.  Dictionary of Medical Eponyms. 2nd ed.  New York, NY; Parthenon Publishing Group. 1996.
2. Bartolucci S, Forbis P.  Stedman’s Medical Eponyms.  2nd ed.  Baltimore, MD; LWW.  2005.
3. Yee AJ, Pfiffner P. (2012).  Medical Eponyms (Version 1.4.2) [Mobile Application Software].  Retrieved http://itunes.apple.com.
4. Whonamedit – dictionary of medical eponyms. http://www.whonamedit.com
5. Chirculescu ARM, Panduru A, Chirculescu M, Morris JF. Gerota and Brâncuşi: Romanian anatomy and art face to face. Journal of Anatomy. 2010;216(2):275-278.