[Incidental finding of a fenestrated internal jugular vein-case report and review of the literature].

Anatomical variations of the internal jugular vein (IJV) are reported in the literature with an incidence of 0.25%-3.3%. We report on a patient in whom a fenestrated right IJV with penetration of the accessory nerve was observed during neck dissection, and supplement the case with a literature review of comparable published cases. The literature review identified 46 reported cases of fenestrated IJV. As the IJV represents a central anatomical landmark in various procedures, knowledge of rare anatomical variants is essential to avoid iatrogenic injuries.