Abnormal Persistence of Embryonic Blood Supply of Liver: Anatomist’s Delight, Surgeon’s Nightmare

The high incidence of hepato-biliary vascular anatomy variations necessitates its evaluation prior to performing liver transplantation, hepatobiliary, pancreatic, gastric and oesophageal surgeries. We report a unique case of persistence of embryonic arteries of the liver, wherein, the liver was supp...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sabah Yaseen, Surbhi Wadhwa, Kahkashan Jeelani, Anita Mahajan, Sabita Mishra
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Karolinum Press 2019-01-01
Series:Acta Medica
Subjects:
Online Access:https://actamedica.lfhk.cuni.cz/62/2/0072/
Description
Summary:The high incidence of hepato-biliary vascular anatomy variations necessitates its evaluation prior to performing liver transplantation, hepatobiliary, pancreatic, gastric and oesophageal surgeries. We report a unique case of persistence of embryonic arteries of the liver, wherein, the liver was supplied by five vessels. In addition to the usual right and left hepatic arteries from the hepatic artery proper, the liver received two accessory right hepatic arteries, one from the gastroduodenal artery, while another arising from superior mesenteric artery and an accessory left hepatic artery, from the left gastric artery. The origin of gastroduodenal artery was found to be unusually high and its abnormal anterior course over the common bile duct further added complexity to the hepatobiliary anatomy. The presence of these aberrant and accessory arteries predisposes to inadvertent injury leading to patient morbidity and sometimes mortality.
ISSN:1211-4286
1805-9694