Common Hepatic Artery Ascending on the Anterior Surface of the Pancreas and Left Renal Vein Running Beneath the Diaphragm

Rare vascular anomalies were observed postmortem in a Japanese female (60-year-old). 1) The common hepatic artery arose from the superior mesenteric artery, ascended on the anterior surface of the pancreas, where the right gastro-epiploic and right gastric arteries branched, and continued as a normally-positioned proper hepatic artery. 2) Superior to the inferior phrenic arteries and along the caudal surface of the diaphragm, the left renal vein ran, collecting its usual tributaries; it emptied into the inferior vena cava 4 cm rostral and opposite-the right renal vein. The unusual common hepatic artery is thought to be comprised of the anterior branches of the superior and inferior pancreatico-duodenal arteries which enlarged in a compensation for dysgenesis of the usual common hepatic artery. The anomalous left renal vein suggests additional embryological anastomoses between the subcardinal veins rostral or superior to the omphalomesenteric artery.