ON A COMPLEX ARRANGEMENT OF THE VASCULAR PEDICLE OF THE LEFT KIDNEY

During the dissection of an 83 year-old male cadaver, we observed that the left renal vein passed behind the aorta to follow an oblique cour se before draining into the inferior vena cava. The left renal vein wa s connected to the left suprarenal, spermatic, lumbar ascending and az ygos veins. The left spermatic vein, after collecting the suprarenal v ein, crossed in front of the abdominal aorta to reach the inferior ven a cava directly. Furthermore, the arterial pedicle of the left kidney was composed of two tortuous and intermingled vessels. Variations in t he number and arrangement of the vessels terminating in the renal vein s are not uncommon, but so complex a vascular arrangement as this has not to our knowledge been previously described. The ontogenetic explan ation and clinico-surgical implications of such a variation are review ed and discussed.