Frequency of Acccessory Renal Arteries Diagnosed by Computerized Tomography

Accessory renal arteries play a significant role in kidney and abdominal aorta surgery, and renovascular hypertension. In the published literature, the frequency varies considerably, depending on the size of the sample, the method of examination and the ethnic group.

The aim of this study is to determine the general frequency of accessory renal arteries, their frequency in relation to gender, the origin and the vascularization area, and to determine the differences in left-right and bilateral distribution.

CT scans of 1357 patients were retrospectively analyzed. Accessory renal arteries were recorded in 35.5% of patients, with a statistically significant difference in male and female incidence (p<0.05) with a ratio of 1.4 : 1. Accessory arteries occur more commonly unilaterally (p<0.05) than bilaterally with a ratio of 4 : 1. Unilateral accessory renal arteries occur at approximately the same frequency at right and left side 1.1 : 1, without statistically significant differences in frequencies (p>0.05). Of the total number of noticed accessory renal arteries 76.7% was originated from abdominal aorta (AA), 23% from renal artery and 0.3% from CIA, with a ratio of 3.3: 1 : 0.0005.

The study showed a relatively high frequency of accessory arteries and described their anatomy in detail, which can be of great importance in surgical interventions on abdominal aorta, kidneys, and in case of kidney transplantation.