Superior vena caval syndrome caused by the tumor of the left hilum in a patient with unilateral persistent left superior vena cava diagnosed with multislice spiral computed tomography : a case report

Background: Unilateral persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) is an infrequent finding with incidence of 18-20% among the individuals with PLSVC. The persistence of the left-sided superior vena cava is an effect of disturbances in development of the connection between the precardinal veins (anterior cardinal veins) and formation of the sinus venosus in early stages of embryogenesis. Case report: The paper presents a case of a 62-year-old patient with a mass lesion of the left hilum, which caused left-sided superior vena caval syndrome in the presence of unilateral PLSVC. Conclusions: Developmental mechanisms of superior vena caval syndrome are discussed. The evolution of changes related to infiltration and occlusion of PLSVC is shown on the basis of three selected MSCT examinations.