Successful subcarinal dissection using a laparoscopic transhiatal approach for esophageal cancer with an anomalous...

We herein reported a case of a dangerous anomaly of a pulmonary vein in subcarinal dissection. A 74-year-old man underwent esophagectomy with systematic nodal dissection using a laparoscopic transhiatal approach. Under pneumomediastinum pressure, dissection of the posterior plane of the pericardium was extended, and a vessel that independently drained into the left atrium was identified. Although this anomalous vein penetrated the subcarinal lymph nodes and crossed behind the right main bronchi, subcarinal dissection was successfully performed without its injury. Our surgical procedure enabled the intraoperative identification of this rare abnormality, an aberrant segmental vein in the right upper lobe, and safe en bloc subcarinal dissection.