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When a Brazilian man went to the doctor complaining oflow - back pain , his doctors got a surprise : They discover that the man had not two , but three kidneys — a very rare shape .

To figure out the cause of the 38 - year - old man ’s dangerous pain in the neck , doctors at the Hospital do Rim in São Paulo , Brazil , performed aCT scanto assess the domain , according to a story of the case , put out Wednesday ( May 6 ) inThe New England Journal of Medicine(NEJM ) .

A man in Brazil learned he had three kidneys after receiving a CT scan for low back pain. Above, the CT scan showing the man�s three kidneys: A normal-appearing kidney on the man�s left side, and two kidneys fused at the pelvis.

A man in Brazil learned he had three kidneys after receiving a CT scan for low-back pain. Above, the CT scan showing the man’s three kidneys: A normal-appearing kidney on the man’s left side, and two kidneys fused at the pelvis.

The scan showed the military personnel had a herniated or " slip " disk , a relatively common condition in which part of a cushion - like phonograph record between the spinal vertebra incite out of home .

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But it was n’t just the herniated disc that catch the doctors ' attention . They could n’t assist but notice that the man had an strange anatomical feature film . Instead of the usual twokidneysseen in a distinctive person , the gentleman’s gentleman had three : a normal - looking kidney on his remaining side and two fused kidneys located near the pelvis , the report card said .

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The gentleman’s gentleman did n’t have any symptom of a kidney job , and the organs come along to be working normally .

commonly , each kidney is connected to the vesica through a individual canal called a ureter . In the humans ’s cause , one of the pelvis kidneys was directly connected to the bladder via a ureter . However , the ureter of the other pelvis kidney joined the ureter of the normal , left - side kidney before it infix the bladder .

Having three kidneys is rare , with fewer than 100 case cover in the medical lit , agree to a 2013 report of a similar grammatical case published inThe Internet Journal of Radiology . The consideration is cerebrate to come up during embryonic development , when a construction that typically take form a single kidney splits in two .

Urobag showing the worm (left), The worm in a tray (right).

Because the experimental condition does n’t usually cause symptom , people typically do n’t bang they have it unless it ’s discovered by stroke through unrelated aesculapian tests , the authors of the NEJM report sound out .

The man did n’t need any aesculapian attention for his extra kidney . But he did receive unwritten analgesic for his back botheration , the report said .

in the beginning published onLive Science .

ct scan of a person�s abdomen shown from the top down

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