Bilateral duplicitous renal vasculature

Introduction The kidneys are paired organs in the abdomen that are essential and responsible for filtering blood, removing waste, controlling body fluids, and regulating electrolyte and hormonal homeostasis. In order to properly perform these important functions the kidneys must have adequate blood supply. Typically, each kidney has a hilum that receives blood from a single renal artery from the aorta and one renal vein draining into the inferior vena cava. Buffoli and colleagues (2015) reported that renal variations are relatively common and make up about 30% of all congenital anomalies [1]. When additional renal vasculature is present, it may connect to the kidneys either through the hilum or at another point on the kidney’s surface. These anatomical variations are more prevalent in renal arteries compared to renal veins. According to Gupta and colleagues (2011) variations of renal veins tend to occur on the left side due to the complexity that arises from the presence of multiple veins, including the adrenal, gonadal, phrenic, and hemizygous vessels [2]. In contrast, Kaneko and colleagues (2008) report that multiple renal veins are relatively common on the right and rare on the left [3]. In this case report, the researchers discuss a previously unreported variant of bilateral renal veins and arteries in a single cadaver. In this individual, the renal vessels arose from each kidney at both the hilum and the inferior pole.