Is the inferior vena cava dispensable?
Jones VS; Shun A Department of Paediatric Surgery, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, Corner Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Locked Bag 4001, Westmead, Sydney 2145 NSW, Australia. vincijones@yahoo.co.in Inferior vena caval (IVC) ligation during surgery is considered prohibitively risky. Most of the IVC ligations reported in the literature have been in the context of trauma damage control. There are only anecdotal reports in the literature of a successful elective ligation of the IVC in children. Records from a paediatric tertiary care centre were reviewed over a 20-year period to identify and evaluate patients who underwent an intentional ligation of the IVC during elective surgery. The reports from the literature of IVC ligations were reviewed. The physiologic and anatomic basis for the sequelae of IVC ligation was examined. Intentional ligation of the IVC was done in four patients. Apart from pedal oedema and ascites lasting for 1 and 9 months, respectively, in two of them,
