Variations in Draining Patterns of Right Pulmonary Veins at the Hilum and an Anatomical Classification

Abstract

Pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium. Variations are quite common in the pattern of drainage. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the incidence of different draining patterns of the right pulmonary veins at the hilum by dissecting the human fixed cadaveric lungs. Clinically, pulmonary veins have been demonstrated to often play an important role in generating atrial fibrillation. Hence, it is important to look into the anatomy of the veins during MR imaging and CT angiography. In 53.8% of cases, the right superior lobar vein and right middle lobar vein were found to be united together to form the right superior pulmonary vein. In contrast to this, in 11.53% of cases, right middle lobar vein united with the right inferior lobar vein to form the right inferior pulmonary vein, while in 26.9% of cases, the right superior lobar vein, right middle lobar vein, and right inferior lobar vein drained separately.

Morphological Study of Human Lungs

“…However, in the present study, pulmonary artery variations were observed in 78.57% of right hilum and only 8.11% of left hilum. In the present case, pulmonary vein variation was observed in 47.62% of right lungs and 42.24 % of left lungs which is comparable with the finding of 46.03% of variations in pulmonary venous anatomy of dissected lungs observed in a study [23]. The pulmonary veins are the dominant source of ectopic depolarization initiating atrial fibrillation in the majority of patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation [24].…”