Page 72 - Virtual Vascular Vol 11
P. 72
Three-dimensional CT reconstruction of the aorta and inferior vena cava, showing the left-sided inferior
Schematic diagram showing late stages of the four IVC segments during fetal vena cava, crossing to the right side of the aorta at the level of the renal vein. This is a normal
development. Suprahepatic IVC originates from the vitelline venous system; developmental variant.
suprarenal/infrahepatic IVC originates from the subcardinal venous system; infrarenal
IVC originates from the supracardinal venous system; and iliac veins and their
confluence originate from the posterior cardinal system.
MALFORMATIONS of the inferior vena cava include:
• Agenesis (absence) of IVC- when the right subcardinal vein fail to make its
connection with the liver and shunts blood directly into the right supracardinal
vein. Thus, blood from the caudal part of the body reaches the heart via the
azygos and superior vena cava and the hepatic vein enters the right atrium at the
site of the inferior vena cava
• An abnormality of position of / segments of the vein may affect the adjacent
organs, such as the ureter, compressing it and causing a hydronephrosis
• Double inferior vena cava at the lumbar region: the left sacro-cardinal vein fail to
lose its connection with the left subcardinal, and the left common iliac vein may
or may not be present. The left renal vein may also be in retro-aortic in 5% of
cases.
72 Pansky B. Review of medical embryology. Chapter 126. Development of The Venous System: The Inferior Vena Cava
