Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Anomalous pulmonary vein detected using three-dimensional computed tomography in a patient with lung cancer undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy

  • Case Report
  • Published:
General Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Few clinicians are familiar with the anatomy of anomalous pulmonary veins, and studies reporting patients who required right lower lobectomy for lung cancer and who had anomalies of the middle and lower pulmonary veins are even rarer. This report describes the case of a lung cancer patient who had an anomalous lateral part of the middle lobe vein (V4) draining into the right inferior pulmonary vein, which was confirmed by three-dimensional 64-row multidetector computed axial tomography (3D-MDCT) angiography. She was then successfully treated with video-assisted thoracic surgery. The preoperative 3D imaging of the pulmonary vein and artery allowed us to comprehend fully the patient’s vascular anatomy before the operation. Thus, we recommend preoperative 3D-MDCT angiography for patients with lung cancer undergoing thoracic surgery, especially video-assisted thoracic surgery.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Akiba T, Marushima H, Takagi M, Odaka M, Harada J, Kobayashi S, et al. Preoperative evaluation of abnormal anatomy in a patient with tracheal bronchus by three-dimensional 64-row MDCT bronchography and angiography: report of a case. Surg Today (in press).

  2. Watanabe S, Arai K, Watanabe T, Koda W, Urayama H. Use of three-dimensional computed tomographic angiography of pulmonary vessels for lung resections. Ann Thorac Surg 2003; 75:388–392.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Moore WH, Bonvento M, Olivieri-Fitt R. Comparison of MDCT radiation dose: a phantom study. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2006;187:W498–502.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Tsuboi M, Asamura H, Naruke T, Nakayama H, Kondo H, Tsuchiya R. A VATS lobectomy for lung cancer in a patient with an anomalous pulmonary vein: report of a case. Surg Today 1997;27:1074–1076.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Minamoto K, Misao T, Takashima S, Nakano H. Successful thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer in a patient with anatomic variation of the left inferior pulmonary vein. Acta Med Okayama 2007;61:103–106.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Haramati LB, Moche IE, Rivera VT, Patel PV, Heyneman L, McAdams HP, et al. Computed tomography of partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection in adults. J Comput Assist Tomogr 2003;27:743–749.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Yamashita H. Variations in the pulmonary segments and the bronchovascular trees. In: Yamashita H, editor. Roentgenologic anatomy of the lung. Tokyo: Igaku-shoin; 1978. p. 70–107.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Marom EM, Herndon JE, Kim YH, McAdams HP. Variations in pulmonary venous drainage to the left atrium: implications for radiofrequency ablation. Radiology 2004;230:824–829.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Cronin P, Kelly AM, Desjardins B, Patel S, Gross BH, Kazerooni EA, et al. Normative analysis of pulmonary vein drainage patterns on multidetector CT with measurements of pulmonary vein ostial diameter and distance to first bifurcation. Acad Radiol 2007;14:178–188.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Asai K, Urabe N, Yajima K, Suzuki K, Kazui T. Right upper lobe venous drainage posterior to the bronchus intermedius: preoperative identification by computed tomography. Ann Thorac Surg 2005;79:1866–1871.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tadashi Akiba.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Akiba, T., Marushima, H., Harada, J. et al. Anomalous pulmonary vein detected using three-dimensional computed tomography in a patient with lung cancer undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 56, 413–416 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-008-0258-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-008-0258-3

Key words

Navigation