Incidence of Additional Renal Veins in Human Cadavers

Introduction: Knowledge of anatomy of renal veins & its anatomic variations is very important for surgeons during various surgeries like nephrectomy, renal transplantation, surgeries of abdominal aortic aneurysm .& also for radiologists for various diagnostics procedure. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 40 adult cadavers (21 males & 19 females). Each cadaver was dissected according to the guidelines of “Cunningham's manual of practical anatomy”. Renal veins were identified. Their number and pattern of drainage were observed on both sides and compared with available literature. Results:In present study, Single right renal vein drains into inferior vena cava in 35 cases(87.5%) , two right renal veins drains into inferior vena cava in 3 cases(7.5%) , two right renal veins reunite to form single vein and it drains into inferior vena cava in 2cases(5%) While single left renal vein drain into inferior vena cava in 38 cases(95%) cases, two left renal veins reunite to form single leftrenal vein and it drains into inferior vena cava in 2 cases(5%). There was no statistically significant difference found in males & females on both right & left side. Conclusion: Present study shows that incidence of variations of additional renal veins more on right side (12.5%) as compared to left side (5%). Such variations are important in renal transplantation, renal surgeries, and other therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.