Absence of the Inferior Vena Cava

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Abstract
Five cases of so-called absence of the inferior vena cava are described. In this condition the hepatic portion of the inferior vena cava fails to develop, and the venous drainage from the entire lower body is shunted into a large posterior azygos vein which ultimately empties into the superior vena cava. The presence of this condition should alert one to seek the severe intracardiac anomalies which are usually associated with it. Also, it is essential that, if any patient with this basic anomaly should come to thoracotomy, the azygos vein be not sacrificed. In the one reported case, ligation of this vessel led to the death of the patient. A brief note is made of the generally accepted embryologic origin of this anomaly.