Duplication of hepatic artery

The hepatic arterial anatomy is aberrant in almost 33-41% of individuals. The variant arterial anatomy recognized during routine cadaveric dissection offers great learning potential. Such findings provide an alternative perspective to view common morphology and its structural and functional importance. These impart the concept of patient individuality and subsequent individualization of medical and surgical therapies. Adequate knowledge of normal and abnormal arterial anatomy is essential for peripancreatic surgery and liver transplantation.

To report on hepatic artery variations observed in the dissecting room and to find out the macroscopic pattern of varied human hepatic arterial vascularization by cadaveric dissection.

Twenty human cadavers of caucasian origin were dissected to study the source and topographic pattern of hepatic arterial supply.

Nineteen cadavers exhibited typical hepatic arterial supply from the celiac axis. Only one female body out of twenty cadavers exhibited a dual arterial supply to all parts of liver and gallbladder. One artery originated from the celiac axis whereas the other was given off by the superior mesenteric artery.

No doubt, aberrant hepatic vascularization should be assessed preoperatively by invasive and noninvasive techniques to avoid fatal complications, but we favour careful dissection over angiography as a means of defining the arterial anatomy.