Abdominal aortic aneurysmectomy with left-sided inferior vena cava and transplanted kidney

Aortic aneurysmectomy was performed in a 43-year-old man with left-sided inferior vena cava (It-IVC) after renal transplantation 10 years before. In the admission examination chronic rejection was found histopathologically. For renal protection, a temporary heparin-coated shunt tube was used to maintain continuous blood flow to the transplanted kidney. The shunt was placed between the left brachial artery and the right external iliac artery, because there was no segment healthy enough for cannulation of the shunt tube and the It-IVC crossed over the aorta above the aneurysm. Aortic aneurysmectomy was performed without complications and perioperative renal function was satisfactorily maintained without progression of the chronic rejection.