Vol 70, No 2 (2011)
Case report
Published online: 2011-06-01
Variations in hepatic vascularisation: lack of a proper hepatic artery. Two case reports
Folia Morphol 2011;70(2):130-134.
Abstract
The blood supply of the liver and other abdominal organs plays a significant
role during abdominal surgery. Knowledge of the most common patterns of
vascularisation should be broadened and new anomalies of the celiac trunk
and its branches dutifully reported. This paper presents two case reports which
describe the lack of a proper hepatic artery. Case 1 describes the cadaver of
a 64-year-old female in whom the right hepatic artery was observed to arise
from the common hepatic artery and run behind the portal vein. The common
hepatic artery was observed to be divided into three terminal vessels: the left
hepatic artery, the gastroduodenal artery, and the right gastric artery. Case 2
describes the cadaver of a 75-year-old male with a liver that was supplied from
3 different sources: the left hepatic artery from the left gastric artery (which
arose directly from the aorta), the right hepatic artery from the superior mesenteric
artery, and the middle hepatic artery from the common hepatic artery —
(branch of the hepato-splenic trunk). Moreover, the left inferior phrenic artery
arose from the left hepatic artery. (Folia Morphol 2011; 70, 2: 130–134)
Keywords: accessory hepatic arterymiddle hepatic arteryliver blood supply