Right top pulmonary vein preoperatively identified by three-dimensional computed tomography in a patient with pulmonary hamartoma: A case report

Abstract

A 60-year-old man was found to have an abnormal shadow on a chest radiograph. Chest computed tomography revealed a pulmonary nodule of 18 mm in diameter in the upper lobe of the right lung. The nodule had a lobulated edge and also contained small areas of fat without calcification. Three-dimensional computed tomography (3D-CT) showed an abnormal distribution of the aberrant pulmonary vein (V1 and V2), descending dorsally to the intermediate bronchus and draining directly into the left atrium. Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) segmentectomy of the right S1 was performed. The rapid pathological diagnosis was pulmonary hamartoma. Preoperative 3D-CT helps understand the anatomy of the pulmonary vessels, which could play an important role in safe and secure VATS anatomical resection.