A potential intraoperative disaster averted: Preduodenal portal vein compressing a preduodenal common bile duct

Familiarity with the anatomy is paramount for conduct of safe surgery for a surgeon. Anomalies with the biliary and hepatic arterial system are common but portal vein anomalies are least common. A preduodenal portal vein has been reported in about 100 cases but a combination of preduodenal portal vein with preduodenal common bile duct is extremely rare with only 9 cases being reported. We report a one such case and discuss the embryological basis for the peculiar anatomy observed in our case which has never been reported earlier. We also reviewed the reported cases in literature.