Pulmonary veins variation number and its clinical implication: a new case report

The lung veins belong to the pulmonary circulation and are blood vessels that drain freshly oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart’s left atrium, by their correspondent and independent ostia. Focusing on the “normal” gross anatomy, the human body has four pulmonary veins, transferring blood by two left and two right veins [1]. However, since the second half of the 20th century, it has been reported different branching patterns in the number of pulmonary veins as well as the number of left atrium ostium sometimes might not correspond in quantity [2]. Furthermore, it has been suggested that such anatomical variation may influence and initiate atrial fibrillation, and therefore attention to this variability is necessary [3]. The purpose of this clinical case study is to describe a rare anatomical variation in the number of pulmonary veins that were found during cadaver dissection classes with medical students performed at the ICLO Teaching and Research Center (Verona, Italy). After a detailed examination and dissection of the thorax portion of the body, the present case report, belonging to a woman 75 years old, reported a total of five pulmonary veins. Specifically, it was found that the examined right lung had 3 instead of 2 pulmonary veins that drain into the left atrium of the heart. The left lung was “normally” drained with 2 pulmonary veins. The observed anatomical variation in the number of pulmonary veins is of clinical significance to radiologists, electrophysiologists, and cardio-thoracic surgeons while performing surgical procedures such as segmentectomy but also on the heart.