The urinary tract can become obstructed by various disease processes, including tumours. Obstruction at any level of the urinary tract can impair the free flow of urine and may be partial or complete, and unilateral or bilateral. Bilateral obstruction usually occurs at the level of the bladder or lower. Retroperitoneal fibrosis and extrinsic compression of both ureters by a malignancy are exceptions. Children are affected by congenital vesicoureteric junction obstruction or pelvi-ureteric junction obstruction. Young adults suffer stone disease. The elderly are prone to urothelial cancers, and older men to bladder outflow obstruction. Retroperitoneal fibrosis is an inflammatory condition that typically affects men over 50 years of age. Diagnosis should be confirmed by biopsy to exclude a lymphoma or malignancy.
Invasive lobular carcinoma of presumably breast origin presenting as retroperitoneal fibrosis with urinary tract obstruction and metastatic infiltration of abdominal viscera