Circumcaval Ureter: Embryology

Although this embryologic anomaly is commonly known to urologists as circumcaval or retrocaval ureter - terms that are anatomically descriptive but misleading in regards to development - it is not the result of an abnormality in ureteral development but rather an anomaly in the development of the inferior vena cava. The term preureteral vena cava may thus emphasize that the circumcaval ureter results from altered vascular, rather than ureteral development.