An aberrant medial basal segmental pulmonary artery (A7b) behind the superior segmental pulmonary vein (V6) in a patient undergoing right superior segment (S6) segmentectomy

Herein, we report the first case of a patient with lung cancer with an aberrant medial basal segmental pulmonary artery (A7b) behind the superior segmental pulmonary vein (V6) who underwent right superior segment (S6) segmentectomy via uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (uVATS). A 56-year-old man with a right lower lobe pure ground-glass nodule (GGN), measuring 12 mm in diameter on computed tomography (CT) had an aberrant A7b branching from the basal pulmonary artery, which was located behind the V6 as detected on 3D CT. The right S6 segmentectomy, via uVATS, for the GGN was performed. The postoperative course was uneventful. The final pathological diagnosis was invasive adenocarcinoma (p-T1bN0M0, stage IA2) with no evidence of disease recurrence at 3-month follow-up. Thoracic surgeons should be aware of the possibility of damaging the A7b when dividing the V6 for S6 segmentectomy, especially during uVATS because of insufficient dorsal visibility.