Aberrant right hepatic artery in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Presented herein is a case in which an aberrant right hepatic artery (RHA) passes anterior to the infundibulum and fundus of the gallbladder and courses to an unusually anterior hepatic entry.

A 54-year-old female with a history of biliary colic was scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Laparoscopic dissection revealed an aberrant right hepatic artery (RHA) anterior to the infundibulum and fundus of the gallbladder. Further dissection revealed the cystic artery to branch laterally off this RHA over the gallbladder fundus anteriorly. The cystic artery then wrapped posterolaterally on the gallbladder's surface to its neck. After the gallbladder was removed, the aberrant RHA was readily visible traveling across the gallbladder bed and entering the liver at an unusually anterior location. Intraoperative images are included. The procedure was completed laparoscopically without complication.

The origins and paths of both the cystic and right hepatic arteries have several documented anomalies. We are unaware of any reports of an RHA that transverses the entire neck and fundus of the gallbladder before such an anterior hepatic entry.

This case serves as a striking reminder of the variations in extrahepatic biliary and vascular anatomy. Ligation of this uniquely located aberrant RHA could have led to intraoperative hemorrhage or potential hepatic ischemia.