[Pulmonary resection for lung cancer in a patient with an anomalous course of the right apical pulmonary vein].

We carried out right upper lobectomy and mediastinal node dissection for a 67-year-old man with lung adenocaricinoma in the right upper lobe. Intraoperatively, we found the middle lobe vein, V2, and V3 in front of the pulmonary hilum, and did not found a part of the right apical pulmonary vein. We found a part of the right apical pulmonary vein placed between the right main pulmonary artery and the right upper lobe bronchus, after cutting the pulmonary artery branches to the right upper lobe. We should keep on mind the possibility of anomalous course of pulmonary vein when pulmonary surgery is planned. And, if this abnormality is doubted with the preoperative chest computed tomogrphy (CT) scan, threedimensional CT( 3D-CT) scan of the pulmonary vein is useful.