Anatomic variations of arterial liver vascularization: an analysis by using MDCTA
1Department of Radiology, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria, di Cagliari, Polo di Monserrato, s.s. 554, 09045, Monserrato (Cagliari), Italy. lucasaba@tiscali.it
Purpose:
The knowledge of celiac trunk vascularization and hepatic arteries' configuration is extremely important in several areas like hepato-biliary pancreatic surgery, as well as in interventional radiological treatment. Our purpose was to evaluate the incidence of anatomic variation of arterial liver vascularization by using MDCTA in a large, homogeneous population.
Methods:
Between January 2004 and December 2009, 1,910 patients (1,156 men; mean age, 62.7 years) who underwent MDCT were retrospectively analyzed. Hepatic arterial configuration was classified according to Michels' classification. Image quality was graded according to an ordinal scale.
Results:
Of the 1,910 examined patients, 281 (15, 67%) were excluded because of sub-optimal image quality. Of the remaining 1,629 patients (986 men; mean age, 61.1 years ± 8 (SD); age range, 19-90 years), anatomic variations were detected in 631 patients (38.73%).
Conclusions:
MDCT was useful in analyzing arterial liver configuration and demonstrated the presence of a significant incidence of arterial variants (38.73%) in the examined population.
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