Anomalous inferior vena cava with azygos continuation in a Japanese man.

During an ordinary dissection by medical students at Nara Medical University in 1998, a case of anomalous inferior vena cava with azygos continuation was found in a cadaver of a 91-year-old Japanese man. The left and right inferior venae cavae were present and were joined at the height of the first lumbar vertebra. The joined inferior vena cava continued the azygos vein and the azygos vein entered the superior vena cava at the height of the fifth thoracic vertebra. Furthermore, the heart was normal.