Renal Artery

The renal arteries are a pair of large blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to your kidneys. Approximately 1/2 cup of blood passes through your kidneys from the renal arteries every minute.

Renal Vein

The renal veins are a pair of asymmetric blood vessels that return blood to the heart from the kidney. The left renal vein is longer than the right one.

Renal pyramid

Renal pyramids are smaller conical sections of tissue in the renal medulla. Each human kidney may have about ten to 18 renal pyramids, with tens of thousands of nephrons parallelly arranged to each other.

Ureter

The ureter is a tube that carries urine from the kidney to the urinary bladder. There are two ureters, one attached to each kidney. The ureter is about 10 to 12 inches long in the average adult.

Renal Pelvis

The renal pelvis is a funnel-shaped structure in each kidney that receives urine from the collecting duct for passage into the ureter. The apex of the renal pelvis extends outwards from the kidney and joins the upper end of the ureter.

Renal cortex

The glomerulus and convoluted tubules are located within the renal cortex, which is encircled on all sides by a layer of fatty tissue called the renal capsule.