Congenital
Variations of Renal Veins:
Embryological Background And Clinical
Implications.
1140-1143
Correspondence
Anupma Gupta
Associate professor.
Department of Anatomy - Adesh Institute of Medical Science
and Research, Bathinda, Punjab, India.
Email : anupmag@ymail.com
Introduction: Venous variations, mainly resulting from the errors of the embryological development, are frequently observed.
Aims: This study reviews the embryogenesis of the renal vein and describes the variations in its anatomy. In addition, the clinical relevance of the variations is discussed.
Material and methods: Material of the study comprised of 30 well embalmed human cadavers of known sex obtained from department of Anatomy.
Result: In this study, out of 30 cases only 13(42%) cases showed standard pattern of renal veins and in rest of 17(58%) cases, variations in one or other forms were encountered. Four main anatomic variants of the renal veins namely the supernumerary veins, retro-aortic, circumaortic left renal vein & plexiform left renal vein were observed.
Discussion:These variants are explainable owing to the complexity of the ontogeny of the renal vein, with numerous anastomoses formed between the three primitive paired veins. Clinical significance of all variants is discussed.
Conclusion:Familiarity with these variations is essential for correct interpretation of cross-sectional images, to avoid erroneous diagnosis of retroperitoneal and mediastinal masses or adenopathy, and to alert the surgeon and angiographer of potential sources of complications pre-operatively.