Surgical and radiologic anatomy : SRA
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Congenital absence of the portal vein with systemic diversion of mesenteric blood is extremely rare. We report a case of a congenital absence of the portal vein, accidentally discovered in a 59-year-old man, completely asymptomatic and not associated with other malformations or biochemical disorders. Ultrasonography imaging showed the absence of the portal vein and the distal tract of superior mesenteric and splenic veins draining together into a dilated left renal vein. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance confirmed the presence of a congenital portosystemic venous shunt and also revealed two hepatic arteries: one arising from the celiac trunk and the other from the superior mesenteric artery.
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Thiel's embalming technique, first described by Thiel in 1992, conserves texture and colour in cadavers close to that observed in the living. It would appear that few anatomy laboratories use this method, and literature describing its use worldwide is sparse. The aim of our study was to conduct a worldwide survey on the use of this method. ⋯ Thiel's embalming technique is not widely known, and therefore, little used. The main obstacle to its wider use is likely the language barrier, since most of the publications describing Thiel's method are in German, which is not widely spoken outside of a few European countries.