Left anomalous brachiocephalic vein in a patient with right lung cancer.

The left anomalous brachiocephalic vein is a rare anomaly without congenital heart disease. It is important to recognize this anomalous vein especially in patients with lung cancer because misinterpretation as a superior mediastinal lymph node enlargement may cause serious complications. We report a case of a 62-year-old lung cancer patient with left anomalous brachiocephalic vein, who underwent surgical treatment safely under video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery after confirmation of this anomaly on contrast-enhanced computed tomographic scan.