CT imaging-based determination and classification of anatomic variations of left gastric vein.

Background Precise determination and classification of left gastric vein (LGV) anatomy are helpful in planning for gastric surgery, in particular, for resection of gastric cancer. However, the anatomy of LGV is highly variable. A systematic classification of its variations is still to be proposed. We aimed to investigate the anatomical variations in LGV using CT imaging and develop a new nomenclature system.