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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Original article / research
Full Version
Congenital Variations of Renal Veins: Embryological Background And Clinical Implications.
Correspondence Address :
Anupma Gupta
Associate professor.
Department of Anatomy - Adesh Institute of Medical Science
and Research, Bathinda, Punjab, India.
Email : anupmag@ymail.com
Introduction: Venous variations, mainly resulting from the errors of the embryological development, are frequently observed.
Aims: This study reviews the embryogenesis of the renal vein and describes the variations in its anatomy. In addition, the clinical relevance of the variations is discussed.
Material and methods: Material of the study comprised of 30 well embalmed human cadavers of known sex obtained from department of Anatomy.
Result: In this study, out of 30 cases only 13(42%) cases showed standard pattern of renal veins and in rest of 17(58%) cases, variations in one or other forms were encountered. Four main anatomic variants of the renal veins namely the supernumerary veins, retro-aortic, circumaortic left renal vein & plexiform left renal vein were observed.
Discussion:These variants are explainable owing to the complexity of the ontogeny of the renal vein, with numerous anastomoses formed between the three primitive paired veins. Clinical significance of all variants is discussed.
Conclusion:Familiarity with these variations is essential for correct interpretation of cross-sectional images, to avoid erroneous diagnosis of retroperitoneal and mediastinal masses or adenopathy, and to alert the surgeon and angiographer of potential sources of complications pre-operatively.
Renal vein, Retro-aortic, circumaortic, supernumerary, Congenital, variations.
INTRODUCTION
In an era of renal transplantation and changing trend in favor of conservative renal surgery, a meticulous knowledge of the anatomy and variational patterns of renal veins is mandatory for such retroperitoneal surgeries and venographic procedures. Variations in the origin, course & termination of renal veins, mainly resulting from the errors of the embryological development, are frequently observed. They have clinical implications in situations like lymphadenectomy where extensive dissection of the venous system is involved, renal transplant where venous systems are needed for reconstruction, renal cell cancer with venous extension, in staging of testicular tumours and placement of caval filters (1).
The renal veins lie anterior to renal artery and open into the inferior vena cava at the level of L2 vertebra. The right renal vein is a short vessel (2.5cm) and does not receive any tributary. The left renal vein is three times longer (7.5cm) than right and crosses anterior to aorta to open into left lateral aspect of inferior vena cava. It typically receives two tributaries. Left suprarenal vein and Left gonadal vein (2).
The development of the renal veins is a complex process with many possible alternative patterns of formation. This is particularly true on the left side because of the communication of the left renal vein with the adrenal, gonadal, phrenic and hemiazygos veins. The anatomical features of the left renal vein (its longer course and complex embryogenesis) add to its complexity and results in sizeable number of clinically significant variations (3). A familiarity with such venous variations is the first step towards avoiding vascular injury during retroperitoneal procedures.
With these facts in mind, the present work has been designed to study the renal veins and their variations which in turn could provide a solution to innumerable problems encountered frequently during different urological procedures. Further an attempt has been made to throw light on ontogenesis of different variations and their clinical implications.
This study comprises of 30 well embalmed human cadavers (60 renal veins) of known sex, obtained from department of Anatomy, Govt, Medical college Amritsar. These were serialized from 1-30 with suffix M for male & F for female. The abdominal cavity was opened by a cruciform incision passing through the whole thickness of anterior abdominal wall. Flaps were reflected and abdominal viscera was systemically removed according to Cunningham manual of practical Anatomy (4). The renal veins were identified and traced from the hilum of kidney up to their termination in inferior vena cava. All of their tributaries were also traced up to their respective origins
Out of 30 cadavers of present study a standard text book pattern of renal veins was observed only in 13(42%) cadavers. In the rest of 17(58%) cases, a wide range of variations were encountered. From developmental point of view, four major congenital variations of the renal vein namely the supernumerary renal veins, retro-aortic; circumaortic and plexiform renal vein were observed. (Table/Fig 1).
1. Supernumerary renal vein : Supernumerary renal vein is defined as any additional vein arising from hilum of kidney and draining into Inferior venacava.
In the present study, supernumerary renal veins were seen on right side in 10 bodies (Table/Fig 2) and on the left side in one body. Out of 10 bodies, nine showed single right supernumerary renal vein while one showed double supernumerary veins which is a rare finding.
2. Retro-aortic left renal vein : In 2 (6.6%) cadavers, the left renal vein was coursing entirely dorsal to aorta and draining into inferior vena cava. On its way, it received left supra-renal vein and left ovarian vein as usual (Table/Fig 3).
3. Circumaortic left renal vein : In the present series, the circumaortic left renal veins were observed in 2 (6.6%) cases.
In one of these, the retro-aortic limb was larger than preaortic limb, passed obliquely downward to drain into the inferior vena cava at the level of L3.It received two supra renal veins. The pre-aortic limb was smaller in size and coursed horizontally in front of aorta to drain into inferior vena cava at the level of its origin from hilum of kidney. It received one supra renal vein and a testicular vein (Table/Fig 4)
In the second case, the retro-aortic limb of the circumaortic left renal vein was a division of left renal vein and relatively of small diameter. It drained into inferior vena cava at the level of L3.The pre-aortic segment was larger in size and drained as usual. It also received both supra renal & gonadal veins.
4. Plexiform left renal vein : It was a rare variation seen in two bodies where the left renal vein after its emergence from renal hilum divided and redivided to form a network and again reunited to form single renal vein. In this manner 2 hiatuses were formed and left gonadal artery, arising from left accessory renal artery was traversing through the lower hiatus (Table/Fig 5)
Variations of renal veins are usually clinically silent and remain unnoticed until discover during venography, operation or autopsy. To transplant surgeon, morphology acquires special significance, since variations influence technical feasibility of operation. Variations restrict availability of vein for mobilization procedures (5).
The occurrence of congenital variations of renal vein can be explained on the basis of its embryological development. The development of the renal veins is a part of the complex developmental process of inferior vena cava. The process starts from the forth week of conception and ends at about the eight week. There is vast network of three pair of parallel veins in communication. These are in the order of appearance; the posterior cardinal veins, the subcardinal veins and the supracardinal veins. The renal veins are formed by anastomoses of the subcardinal veins and supracardinal veins. Two renal veins form as ventral and dorsal; the dorsal vein usually degenerates, the ventral vein forms the renal vein (6).
This simplified version of the developmental events accounts for the major venous anomalies discussed below.
Supernumerary renal vein : Different authors have given a varied incidence of supernumerary renal veins on two sides but all of them agree without reserve that these are seen more frequently on right side than left (Table/Fig 6)(Table/Fig 7).
The observation made in the present study was same whereby supernumerary renal vein was seen in 10 (33%) bodies on the right side and in 1 (3.3%) body on left side(7),(8),(9),(11).
Ontogeny : Quoting the work of Mankhause and Khalique (10), (12) explained a higher incidence of supernumerary renal vein on the right side than on the left side by embryological development of the abdominal venous structures. Around 8th week, the bilaterally symmetrical cardinal venous system converts into unilateral rightsided Inferior vena cava. At this time, two renal veins are present on each side, one on ventral plane and another dorsal it. With further development, there is confluence of the two tributaries producing a single vessel. The persistence of these two veins results in the additional renal vein of right side. The shifting of venous arrangement to the right and complex embryogenesis of left renal vein, discourage the retention of any additional left-sided renal veins. Hence Supernumerary renal veins are much more common on the right side than the left side(13),(14),(15),(16).
Clinical implications : Multiplicity of renal veins, being particularly susceptible to trauma, constitutes a perpetual threat during various surgical and interventional procedures, in the retroperitoneal region of the abdomen (3).
2. Retro-aortic left renal vein : It was seen in 2(6.6%) bodies of the present study. The table-3 depicts percentage range of retro-aortic left renal vein as seen by earlier workers. It has been reported from 0.5% to 17% in different studies. Our incidence of 6.6% fills well within this range however the frequency of retro-aortic renal vein shows social, ethnic and racial differences.
Ontogeny : In this present case, the development of retro-aortic left renal vein may be explained ontogenetically by persistence of posterior limb of renal collar & disappearance of its anterior limb.
Clinical implications : Singla et al (17) reviewed the earlier literatures and suggested retro aortic left renal vein may be compressed between the aorta and the lumbar spine leading to left renal venous hypertension which is known as Posterior Nutcracker Syndrome which is manifested by left flank and abdominal pain with or without hematuria. Compression of retro-aortic left renal vein can cause left renal to gonadal vein reflux resulting in lower limb varices and varicocele which may produce difficulties in spermatogenesis and may lead to infertility. Retro-aortic left renal vein has been also associated with Pelvic Congestion Syndrome in females which is characterized by lower abdominal pain, dysmenorrhoea, dyspareunia, vulval, gluteal or thigh varices and emotional disturbances. It may be obstructed by pressure from retroperitoneal growths leading to congestion of kidney. If prolonged, it may give rise to a form of Chronic Interstitial Nephritis.
The surgical significance of such variants lies principally in the fact that the availability of the long left renal vein for mobilization procedures gets restricted thereby nullifying the advantages which normally occur from the greater length ofthe left renal vein. Also, the presence of the left retro-aortic renal vein bears clinical significance because of its susceptibility to injury during retroperitoneal surgery (14).
3. Circumaortic left renal vein : In the present series, the circumaortic left renal vein was observed in 2 (6.6%) cases. (Table/Fig 8) also depicts incidence of circumaortic left renal veins as observed by earlier authors. Accordingly it ranges from 0.3% to 6.8%.
Ontogeny : A circumaortic left renal may be explained ontogenetically by persistence of both pre- & post- aortic segment of renal collar. Out of the two renal veins; the superior vein passes in front of the aorta at the usual level, the inferior vein runs downward and medially behind the aorta draining into the inferior vena cava (6).
Clinical implications : Although the circumaortic renal collar is usually asymptomatic, the knowledge of this variation is useful, mainly before abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery and renal transplantation. The risk of venous injury is higher in patient with a circumaortic left renal vein because the large anterior component of renal collar can easily mislead the surgeon to think that the development of renal vein is normal and injury to retroaortic component may lead to hemorrhage and death during retroperitoneal surgery (9).
4. Plexiform left renal vein : It was seen in 2(6.6%) bodies. Published information regarding the frequency and anatomic relationships of such Plexiform left renal vein is scarce so we can’t compare the results.
Ontogeny (18):Simplified the intersubcardinal anastomosis in form of single channels passing anterior and posterior to aorta but (6) states that actually these are in the form of network of veins. So ontogeny of plexiform left renal vein may be easily explained by persistence of these networks of veins. It leads to formation of hiatuses through which gonadal vessels may pass and cause clinical symptoms.
Clinical implications : The hiatuses as formed in the present cases may transmit prevertebral venous plexus en route to inferior vena cava. Occasionally internal spermatic vein or testicular vessels passes through hiatuses and may be clamped during surgery in this region.
To conclude, a detailed knowledge about major congenital anomalies of the renal veins is vital for vascular surgeon and urologist as it provides safety guidelines for endovascular procedures. Sound knowledge and understanding of these variations is alsoessential to make distinctive diagnosis of retroperitoneal lymph node pathologies, masses and renal vascular pathologies and to impede complications at the time of surgery.
Authors are grateful to their respected teachers and staff of the department for helping them in this study
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