Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2023 Feb 28;15(2):e35589.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.35589. eCollection 2023 Feb.

Agenesis of the Intrahepatic Inferior Vena Cava: A Case Report and Literature Review

Peter Gerges  1 , Arooj Mian  1 , Gurdeep Singh  1 , Mena Aziz  1 , Shady Guirguis  2 , Ayman Koteish  3   4   5   6
Affiliations
Case Reports

Agenesis of the Intrahepatic Inferior Vena Cava: A Case Report and Literature Review

Peter Gerges et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Anomalies of the inferior vena cava (IVC) are an uncommon finding in the general population. A wide range of IVC anomalies has been described in the literature, the majority of which lack clinical significance. Agenesis of the IVC (AIVC) is a rare anomaly of the IVC in the general population. This anomaly may involve either complete agenesis of the IVC or agenesis of a segment of the IVC. Agenesis of the suprarenal segment is the most commonly occurring variant, while agenesis of the infrarenal and hepatic segments is less common. Here we report a case of agenesis of the intrahepatic segment of the IVC.

Keywords: acute alcoholic hepatitis; agenesis of the ivc; deep vein thrombosis (dvt); hepatic vascular anomaly; inferior vena cava anomaly; intrahepatic ivc.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. CT abdomen and pelvis, axial reconstruction, reveals the complete absence of the intrahepatic part of the inferior vena cava (blue arrow)
Figure 2
Figure 2. CT abdomen and pelvis, axial reconstruction, shows duplicated infrarenal inferior vena cava (blue arrows)
Figure 3
Figure 3. CT abdomen and pelvis, axial reconstruction, shows left renal vein draining into the dilated azygous system (blue arrow)
Figure 4
Figure 4. CT abdomen and pelvis, coronal reconstruction, shows the diminutive right and left hepatic veins draining into the suprahepatic inferior vena cava remnant (blue arrow)
Figure 5
Figure 5. Embryological development of the IVC
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License [1].
Figure 6
Figure 6. The mature IVC is composed of four segments: hepatic, suprarenal, renal and infrarenal segments
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License [1].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. The inferior vena cava: anatomical variants and acquired pathologies. Li SJ, Lee J, Hall J, Sutherland TR. Insights Imaging. 2021;12:123. - PMC - PubMed
    1. The clinical anatomy of the inferior vena cava: a review of common congenital anomalies and considerations for clinicians. Spentzouris G, Zandian A, Cesmebasi A, et al. Clin Anat. 2014;27:1234–1243. - PubMed
    1. Inferior vena cava agenesis: an unusual cause of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in young adult patients. Ramos Aranda J, Ramírez Cerda C, Cohen Mussali S, Valdés Flores J. EJVES Short Rep. 2018;39:12–15. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Recurrent deep venous thrombosis caused by congenital interruption of the inferior vena cava and heterozygous factor V Leiden mutation. Schneider JG, Eynatten MV, Dugi KA, Duex M, Nawroth PP. J Intern Med. 2002;252:276–280. - PubMed
    1. Deep venous thrombosis caused by congenital absence of inferior vena cava, combined with hyperhomocysteinemia. Yun SS, Kim JI, Kim KH, et al. Ann Vasc Surg. 2004;18:124–129. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources