Azygos continuation of the inferior vena cava

What is Azygos continuation of the inferior vena cava?

Disease description

• Azygos continuation of the inferior vena is a rare disease.
• It is an anomaly of the vascular system
• The features of this disease are presence of an enlarged azygos vein (or in rare cases hemiazygos vein, if there is a left-sided inferior vena cava) and absence of the hepatic segment of the inferior vena cava which causes draining the venous blood from the caudal segments.
• The post-hepatic segment of the inferior vena cava is present, draining only the hepatic veins into the right atrium.
• If the anomaly is isolated, most of the patients remain asymptomatic.
• There have been cases reported characterised by association with congenital heart disease and asplenia or polysplenia syndromes.

Synonyms

• Azygos continuation of the IVC
• Azygos continuation of the inferior caval vein
• Inferior vena cava interruption with azygos continuation