Congenital Absence of the Left Common Iliac Artery: A Case Report

Anatomical variations in the iliac vasculature are rarely encountered, but they do have important clinical implications, particularly in surgical and interventional procedures. During a routine dissection course at Kurume University School of Medicine in 2016, a Japanese female anatomical donor who was 98 years of age at death was found to have a congenital absence of the left common iliac artery. Instead, the abdominal aorta bifurcated into the right common iliac artery and directly into the left internal and external iliac arteries at the level of the fifth lumbar vertebra. This variation likely resulted from an unusual fusion pattern during embryonic development. Understanding such anatomical variations is crucial for safe and effective clinical practice.