High origin of the thoracic duct : a case report.

The basis of this morphological study is the application of anatomical knowledge of the thoracic duct in the medical and surgical practice. The thoracic duct or ductus thoracicus is formed by all subdiaphragmatic lymphatic vessels, and located in the posterior mediastinum, prevertebral space and related to major vessels and organs. Its origin is defined by either a widening or a resorvoire of the chyle ,known as Pecquet tank, usually at the height of the first lumbar vertebra. The objective of this paper is to determine the level of origin of the thoracic duct (Pecquet tank) in 50 adult cadavers through consecutive cadaveric dissections. Cross-sectional descriptive study of 50 consecutive dissections of adult cadavers of both sexes in formol 10%, on the period that goes from March 1st of 2005 to December 30th of 2009. Source: In relation to the spine: in 40% the level was on the lumbar vertebra 1 (n = 20), in 20% on the lumbar 2 (n = 10) and dorsal 12 (n = 10), in 10% on the dorsal 11 (n = 5) and 8% on dorsal 10 (n = 4) and 1 case in dorsal 7 (2%). The Pecquet tank was found only in 46% of the cases studied, in relation to the spine: in only one case of the fifty specimens dissected (2%) the source was high, the height of the 7th thoracic vertebra.