Abstract
The yolk sac, which norishes the growing embryo in the very early stages of development, receives the paired vitelline arteries from the aorta. In turn, the vitelline veins arise from the yolk sac and lead to the sinus venosus. As the placental circulation becomes dominant, the vitelline circulation atrophies and disappears. Abnormal persistence of the vitelline circulation, so-called mesodiverticular band, produces clinical problems. Abnormal persistence of the right vitelline artery, the left vitelline artery and the left vitelline vein have already been reported, but no discussion of the right vitelline vein is found in literature. We recently experienced a case of intestinal obstruction due to a mesodiverticular band. The patient was a 3-yr-old boy, who underwent an emergency operation. At laparotomy, a segment of the ileum had become trapped by a root of Meckel's diverticulum, from the tip of which a band was running to the posterior leaf of the mesentery. The band was divided and the strangulated segment of the ileum was resected and an end to end anastomosis was performed. A photomicrograph of a cross-section of the excised band revealed that the artery, the vein and nerve fibers were present in the band. Reviewing case reports in literature, it was suggested that the vein found in the band is the right vitelline vein remnant and that this is an important fact which proves the hypothesis that the superior mesenteric vein derives from the right vitelline vein.
