Renal fascia

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Renal fascia
Sagittal section through posterior abdominal wall, showing the relations of the capsule of the kidney.
Latin fascia renalis
System Urinary system
Gray's p.1220
TA A08.1.01.010
FMA FMA:18104
Anatomical terminology

The renal fascia or Gerota's fascia is a layer of connective tissue encapsulating the kidneys and the suprarenal glands. The deeper layers below the renal fascia are, in order, the adipose capsule of the kidney (or "perirenal fat"), the renal capsule and finally the parenchyma of the renal cortex. The spaces about the kidney are typically divided into three compartments: the perinephric space and the anterior and posterior pararenal spaces.


  • Anterior attachment: Passes anterior to the kidney, renal vessels, abdominal aorta and inferior vena cava and fuses with the anterior layer of the renal fascia of the opposite kidney.
  • Posterior attachment: Fuses with the psoas fascia and side of 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 suprarenal gland. At the upper part of the suprarenal gland they again fuse to form the suspensory ligament of the suprarenal gland and fuse with the diaphragmatic fascia.
  • Inferior attachment: The layers don't fuse. The posterior layer descends downwards and fuses with the iliac fascia. The anterior layer blends with the connective tissue of the iliac fossa.

The anterior fascia and posterior fascia fuse laterally to form the lateroconal fascia which fuses with the fascia transversalis.[1]


The fascia anterior (also known as fascia of Toldt) to the perinephric space, Anterior to this fascia is the anterior pararenal space which contains the pancreas, ascending and descending colon, and second through fourth parts of the duodenum.

The fascia posterior to the perinephric space was named Zuckerkandl's fascia. Posterior to this lies the posterior paranephric space which does not contain any abdominal organs.


  1. ^ G J C Burkill, BSc, MRCP, FRCR and J C Healy, MRCP, FRCR. "Anatomy of the retroperitoneum" Imaging 12:10-20 (2000)


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