An extremely rare inversion of the preduodenal portal vein and common bile duct associated with multiple malformations. Report of an adult cadaver case with a brief review of the literature

A preduodenal position of the portal vein (PDPV) is a very rare congenital anomaly; even rarer is its association with a preduodenal position of the common bile duct (PDCBD). To the seven cases of PDCBD mentioned in the literature, we add this particularly rare case which is associated with multiple abnormalities such as situs inversus totalis, intestinal malrotation, short pancreas, bilobed spleen, accessory spleen, and abnormal ramification of the celiac axis, superior mesenteric artery and renal arteries. Besides describing and illustrating this case, we also discuss the anatomy and embryology of these structures and briefly review the patterns of previously reported cases that we found. We performed an immunohistochemical examination of the pancreas to demonstrate the ventro-dorsal pancreas in our case. For the explanation of the embryology of the PDCBD, the ventro-dorsal pancreas and PDPV malformation, we emphasized the reverse rotation of the ventral pancreas and duodenum.