RESUMO
Background: Familiarity of the regular and commonest deviations of anatomy of the mesenteric venous system is of great significance for surgeons performing hepatobiliary, pancreatic and gastrointestinal surgeries
Objective: To delineate the variable anatomy of superior mesenteric vein and drainage site of inferior mesenteric vein on CT venograms
Methodology: A total of 114 patients undergoing helical CT venogram for pancreatic pathologies were included in this cross sectional study from 1stJanuary, 2014 to 31stJanuary, 2015 at Radiology department, Sharif Medical City Hospital, Lahore. The mesenteric venous system was analyzed in all patients. Appearance of the Superior Mesenteric Veins [SMV] and drainage site of the Inferior Mesenteric Veins [IMV] were assessed on CT venography. Two radiologists interpreted the images and reached a concensus on all findings. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 20
Results: The study included 64 [56.14%] female and 50 [43.85%] male with a mean age of 49+/-4 years. The SMV was composed of single and double trunks around the splenoportal confluence in 109 [95.61%] and 4 [3.50%] patients, respectively. It was absent in 1 [0.8%] patient. The IMV were identified in all patients. The IMV was observed to drain into splenic vein in 40 [35.08%] patients, SMV in 59 [51.75%], the junction between the superior mesenteric vein and the splenic vein in 14[12.28%], and first jejunal trunk in 1 [0.8%] patient
Conclusion: Understanding of mesenteric venous tributaries is supportive for surgeons to safely perform peripancreatic surgery, and this study shows the
variability in its anatomy