An unusual case of Y-shaped right renal vein

Abstract

Vascular renal anomalies are frequent, multiple and well described and result from errors in vessel embryogenesis between the 6th and 10th week of gestation. Historically, variations are described in anatomic dissection and currently mostly in image interpretation. We report an anatomic variation concerning the right renal vein which, to our knowledge, has never been described in the literature either by dissection or by radiological examination. This variation was discovered during the routine dissection of an embalmed male body. It consists of a Y-shaped right renal vein and is associated with multiple retroperitoneal variations: a bilateral accessory renal artery, a trident ending of the right renal artery and a left testicular vein variation. Venous and arterial renal anatomy and its variations are fundamentally important in renal surgery, especially concerning living donor renal grafts. These variations may be diagnosed thanks to injected tomodensitometry which has a good sensitivity and specificity for anomalies. Preoperative diagnosis of an anatomic vascular renal variation may reduce morbidity during surgery, which is why precise examination of injected tomography should be mandatory.