Kidney-Related Munchausen's Syndrome

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Abstract
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 performance of a renal biopsy as a consequence of this syndrome. We describe three patients with Munchausen's syndrome who simulated renal disease, which in two instances prompted the performance of an unneeded and potentially life-endangering percutaneous renal biopsy.

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