ANOMALOUS TRIAD OF A LEFT-SIDED INFERIOR VENA-CAVA RETROESOPHAGEAL RIGHT SUBCLAVIAN ARTERY, AND BILATERAL SUPERFICIAL BRACHIAL ARTERIES IN ONE INDIVIDUAL

We report a rare case of three major vascular variations in the same i ndividual, two within the thorax and abdomen and one within the upper extremity. The observations were made in a cadaver of a 74-year-old Ja panese woman. A single left-sided inferior vena cava was observed that began from the confluence of the left and right common iliac veins an d ascended vertically to the left side of the abdominal aorta. After r eceiving the left renal vein, it passed obliquely upward anterior to t he abdominal aorta, reaching the right side of the aorta, and then asc ended vertically to the right atrium, following its normal course. The retroesophageal right subclavian artery was also present: it arose fr om the arch of the aorta as the last branch, passing obliquely between the esophagus and the vertebral column. Thus the right recurrent lary ngeal nerve was not formed. Additionally, bilateral superficial brachi al arteries were observed. They arose from the axillary artery, crosse d over the medial root of the median nerve, coursed down the arm, and divided into the radial and ulnar arteries in the cubital fossa. Altho ugh each variation is not rare by itself, the triad of events is rare and important to clinicians, anatomists, and medical students. (C) 199 8 Wiley-Liss, Inc.