KIDNEY-RELATED MUNCHAUSEN-SYNDROME

MUNCHAUSEN'S syndrome, originally described in 1951,1 is the term applied to persons who seek medical care by feigning illness in the absence of any organic medical or surgical disease. Some persons with the syndrome pretend to have disorders known to require invasive diagnostic procedures and undergo multiple surgical interventions. Although the cause of Munchausen's syndrome is unknown, psychiatric evaluation is recommended whenever it is identified.2 Since the first report of the syndrome, many case reports3 4 5 6 7 have documented the performance of unneeded operations and the administration of dangerous drugs in these patients. We have not, however, seen any reports of the… © 1992, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.