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An anatomical study of the partial anomalous pulmonary venous return with special references to the bronchial vein

Anatomical Science International volume 79, Article number: 82 (2004) Cite this article

Abstract

Two examples of partial anomalous drainage of the pulmonary vein were detected at dissection. The first case was found in a 70-year-old female Japanese. An aberrant vein, approximately 6 mm in diameter, that derived from the upper lobe of the right lung was observed to drain into the superior vena cava at a point just below the entrance of the azygos vein. The other veins from the right lung gathered into two pulmonary veins and returned into the left atrium as usual. In the second case, which was found in an 80-year-old female Japanese, a connecting vein, approximately 8 mm in diameter, was found between the left superior pulmonary vein and the left brachiocephalic vein. In this case, although the direction of the blood flow within the connecting vein was not certain, it is probable that the blood passed from the pulmonary vein into the brachiocephalic vein, judging from the increase in the width of the latter vein. No other anomalies were found in the cardiovascular systems. At the occurrence of the anomalous drainage of the pulmonary veins in both cases, we suspected the role of the bronchial vein to be a communicating and boundary vein between the pulmonary and systemic circulations. The developmental background of these anomalies is also considered.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Developmental and Reconstructive Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Nagasaki University, 1-12-4 Sakamoto, 852-8523, Nagasaki, Japan

    Keishi Okamoto, Tetsuaki Wakebe, Kazunobu Saiki & Seiji Nagashima

  2. Department of Anatomy, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan

    Kodo Kodama & Katsushi Kawai

Authors
  1. Keishi Okamoto
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  2. Kodo Kodama
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  3. Katsushi Kawai
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  4. Tetsuaki Wakebe
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  5. Kazunobu Saiki
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  6. Seiji Nagashima
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Correspondence to Keishi Okamoto.

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Okamoto, K., Kodama, K., Kawai, K. et al. An anatomical study of the partial anomalous pulmonary venous return with special references to the bronchial vein. Anato Sci Int 79, 82 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1447-073x.2004.00071.x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1447-073x.2004.00071.x

Keywords

  • anomalous venous drainage
  • brachiocephalic vein
  • bronchial vein
  • pulmonary vein
  • superior vena cava