DOUBLE INFERIOR VENA CAVA: A RARE BUT IMPORTANT ANATOMICAL VARIATION

Background: Congenital variations of the inferior vena cava are uncommon and are usually detected radiologically or at post-mortem. The present study describes two cases of double inferior vena cava, one encountered at routine anatomical dissection of a female cadaver and the other an incidental finding of a similar variation on pre-operative CT scan. The presence of such venous variations may lead to radiological misdiagnosis, inadvertent ligation during retroperitoneal surgery and has important implications for thromboembolic disease.