Right accessory hepatic artery arising from the left gastric artery: a case report

During educational dissection of the abdomen in a female Caucasian cadaver, an unusual origin of an accessory right hepatic artery from the left gastric artery was observed. The left gastric artery was the first branch of the celiac trunk, but ended trifurcating into two abnormal large gastric branches and an accessory hepatic artery (d=1.27 cm) which entered the right hepatic lobe at the margin between the two lobes and close to the quadrate lobe. An aberrant hepatic artery branching from the left gastric supplies the left lobe of the liver in most of the cases. The irrigation of the right lobe described by us seems to be extremely rare. Nevertheless, this arterial anomaly can be enlightened by embryonic development. The knowledge of existence of aberrant hepatic arteries, either accessory or replacing, is important because they may influence surgical and interventional radiological procedures.