Inferior Vena Cava Duplication and Deep Venous Thrombosis: Case Report and Review of Literature

Duplications of the inferior vena cava (IVC) are seen with an incidence of 0.2% to 3.0%. Duplications causing symptoms are rare, with only six reported cases of IVC duplication associated with a deep venous thrombosis. We present a 78-year-old caucasian woman with an IVC duplication who developed a deep venous thrombosis. The etiologies of IVC duplication include failure of anastomosis between the primitive cardinal veins and failure of regression of the left supracardinal vein. When asymptomatic, treatment includes observation, placing filters in both systems, or coil-embolization of the duplicated segment plus placing a filter in the right IVC. For our patient, we chose to coil-embolize the communication to the duplicated segment as well as place a filter in the main right IVC system.