EJMS

Abstract

Objective: The present study was designed to determine the anatomical characteristics of the renal vein as well as to detect the coexisting variations which could be equally important for surgeons and radiologists. Material and method: This study was performed on 40 human formalin-preserved dissected cadavers collected from Kasr El Ainy dissecting room during the last five years (15 females and 25 males) and 110 angiographies of potential living-kidney donors aged between 30 to 40 years (35 females and 75 males) attending Radiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University during the period from August 2007 to April 2010. The total number of cases was 150 i.e. 300 individual kidneys (100 female and 200 male). The formalin-preserved dissected cadavers were examined to expose the renal veins with the evaluation of the following: their number on each side, the pattern of the beginning of these veins, their caliber, the presence of valves and their relations to the abdominal aorta and the renal arteries. A retrospective study of renal angiographies of 110 potential living-kidney donors was done. The donors were exposed to three dimensional multidetector computed tomographic angiography (3D MDCT). Results: Single left renal vein was found in 148 of 150 examined cases, while single right renal vein was found in 147 of 150 of examined cases. Two renal veins were found in 2 of 150 of examined cases in the left side and in 3 of 150 of examined cases in the right side. Three patterns of beginning of the single renal vein were found as follows: pattern I, by one tributary in 115 of 148 on the left side while in 127 of 147 on the right renal side, pattern II, by two tributaries in 22 of 148 examined cases on left side while in 12 of 147 examined cases on the right side and pattern III, by three tributaries in 11 of 139 examined cases on the left side while in 8 of 147 examined cases on the right side. The mean + standard deviation (SD) of length and diameter in the cases of pattern I were: on left side 6.05 + .92 cm and 1.19 + 0.16 cm respectively and on right side were 2.5+ 0. 35 cm and 1.19 + 0.11 cm respectively. Three relations were found between the left renal vein and the abdominal aorta: pre–aortic in 140 of 150 examined cases, retro-aortic in 8 of 150 examined cases and circum-aortic in 2 of 150 examined cases. In the examined cases the tributaries of left renal vein were supra-renal vein, left gonadal vein and in 7 of 150 examined cases the left renal vein received a lumbar vein. In ten cases the lumen of the veins showed no valves in the left and the right renal veins. Relations of the renal vein to the renal artery showed variable forms: the vein ran in front of the artery in 31/40 (77.5%) of dissected cadaver at the left side and in 38/40 (95%) of dissected cadaver at the right side, while in the remaining cases there were different forms of relations between the renal vein and renal artery.