Anteroposition of the portal vein and spontaneous passage of gall-stones. Case report and embryological hypothesis

Abstract

Abstract A case of a woman who passed seven gall-stones ‘per vias naturales’ is presented. At subsequent operation for painful jaundice the portal vein was found to lie in front of the common bile-duct, although in its lower part it was retroduodenal. A new embryological hypothesis to explain the preductal portral vein is presented.