The retroperitoneal anastomoses of the gonadal veins in human foetuses.

In the retroperitoneal space the gonadal veins form a collateral circulation that has a great clinical impact on sclerotherapy or surgical ligation of varicoceles. The aim of this study was to examine the communications of the gonadal veins (according to classification, frequency of appearance, gender and syntopic differences) in human foetuses of both sexes (71 males and 59 females) aged 4--6 months of intrauterine life. On the right side the most frequently were found the gonadal-periureteral anastomosis (23%) and the gonadal-perirenal anastomosis (22%).

Morphometry of the pancreas in human foetuses.

With the use of conventional anatomical dissection, radiography, digital and statistical analysis, morphometry and skeletopy of the pancreas was carried out in 60 human foetuses of both sexes (28 female, 32 male) between the 17th and 40th week of intrauterine life. The material was fixed in a 10% formalin solution. The age of the foetuses was determined by crown-rump (CR) length measurement on the basis of the Iffy et al.

The pancreaticoduodenal arteries in human foetal development.

Knowledge of the course of the pancreaticoduodenal arteries is of great importance in pancreatic surgery. Lack of care in the preparation of these vessels may lead to ischaemia or necrosis of the duodenum, the first loop of the jejunum, the head of the pancreas and even the liver, bile ducts and transverse colon. In such events, the surgeon would need to diagnose the course of the vessels and their anastomoses intraoperatively.

The internal thoracic artery in human foetuses.

The aim of this study was to examine the internal thoracic artery (ITA) in human foetuses. The research material consisted of 32 human foetuses (18 female, 14 male) from the 21(st) to 24(th) week of intrauterine life. After intravascular injection with white latex LBS 3060, the foetuses were fixed in 10% neutral formalin solution.

Variability of the azygos vein system in human foetuses.

The aim of the study was to examine the variability of the azygos vein system and to determine the location of the veins with reference to the vertebral midline and the skeletopy of their termination. The research material consisted of 32 human foetuses (14 male, 18 female) from 21(st) to 24(th) week of intrauterine life, fixed in 10% neutral formalin solution. Conventional anatomical - radiographic methods were used.