Study of anatomical variation of right and left hepatic arteries

The morphological study was done to see the origin of right and left hepatic arteries supplying the liver and gallbladder in Bangladeshi people to increase the knowledge regarding variational anatomy in this region. Sixty post mortem tissue blocks containing liver and gallbladder along with surrounding structures were collected from 40 male and 20 female cadavers of different age groups and fixed in 10% formol saline solution. This was a cross sectional descriptive study. This study was carried out in the Department of Anatomy in Mymensingh Medical College, Mymensingh, from July 2007 to June 2008. Gross and fine dissections were carried out to study the different origin of right and left hepatic artery and its topographic relationship with adjacent structures. In the present study, findings were compared with the findings of Western researchers. In the present study, typical origin of the right and left hepatic artery from hepatic artery proper was 85% and in 15% cases it was found to arise from other sources. The right hepatic arteries those were not originated from hepatic artery proper, 8% was found to arise from common hepatic artery and 7% from superior mesenteric artery. But in case of left hepatic artery, remaining 15% was originated from common hepatic artery.