Prevalence of anatomical variants in the branches of celiac and superior mesenteric arteries among Egyptians

Abstract

Celiac trunk and superior mesenteric artery (SMA) are the main blood supply to the liver and pancreas. The data of anatomical variations in these arteries or their branches are very important clinically and surgically. The aim of this study was to describe the different variants in these arteries through the examination of the angiographs of a large series of Egyptian individuals. This research involved 389 selective angiographies to celiac artery, its branches, and the SMA. Anatomy of the target arteries of people who experienced visceral angiograph was reviewed and the data were recorded. From the total available angiograms in this work, 286 patients (73.52%) had the standard anatomy of celiac trunk and superior mesenteric arteries, and 103 patients (26.47%) had a single or multiple vessel variation. The inferior phrenic artery originates from celiac trunk in 2.05% of patients, while quadrifurcation of the celiac trunk was noticed in only 0.51% of patients. Absence of celiac trunk is also found in 0.51% of patients. Left gastric artery showed an abnormal origin from the splenic artery in 0.51% of patients. Quadrifurcation of common hepatic artery was also noticed. Variant anatomy of the left hepatic artery (LHA) was seen in 9.51% of patients, while variations of the right hepatic artery (RHA) were 14.13%. With the different origin of hepatic arteries, the gastroduodenal artery arose either from the LHA (2.82%), RHA (2.31%) or even from the celiac trunk (1.79%).