CASE REPORTS  VASCULAR PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 1999 June;40(3):421-4

Copyright © 2000 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Resection of abdominal aortic aneurysm in a patient with left-sided inferior vena cava and horseshoe kidney

Sonneveld D. J. A., Van Dop H. R., Van Der Tol A.

From the Department of Surgery Martini Hospital, Groningen, The Netherlands

The pres­ence of vas­cu­lar and ­renal ana­tom­i­cal anom­a­lies can ­create tech­ni­cal prob­lems dur­ing abdom­i­nal aor­tic sur­gery and may ­give ­rise to seri­ous intra­op­er­a­tive com­pli­ca­tions. We ­present a ­case of an abdom­i­nal aor­tic aneu­rysm resect­ed in a ­patient ­with the extreme­ly ­rare coex­is­tence of a ­left-sid­ed infe­ri­or ­vena ­cava and horse­shoe kid­ney. The diag­no­sis of the anom­a­lies was ­made ­prior to aor­tic sur­gery. CT-­scan of the abdo­men was the ­most accu­rate pre­op­er­a­tive inves­ti­ga­tion. Aortic sur­gery was per­formed ­through a trans­per­it­o­neal ­approach ­which ­allowed ­easy ­access to the aneu­rysm ­despite the pres­ence of the ­left-sid­ed infe­ri­or ­vena ­cava and horse­shoe kid­ney. Recognition of vas­cu­lar and ­renal anom­a­lies on pre­op­er­a­tive imag­ing stud­ies is impor­tant in the sur­gi­cal treat­ment of abdom­i­nal aor­tic aneu­rysms. If pos­sible anom­a­lies are rec­og­nized in ­time and treat­ed cor­rect­ly, the mor­bid­ity and mor­tal­ity of aneu­rysm ­repair ­should not be influ­enced.