Vijaykumar K.R.1 , Ranjitha Kulkarni2 , Kamesh G.3
BACKGROUND All vital organs in the abdomen are supplied by abdominal aorta through its major branches. Most of the individuals show normal branching pattern with few showing variations in the form of accessory arteries and replacing arteries. With the advent of laparoscopic interventions and surgeries of abdominal organs, preoperative awareness of such variations is extremely important to avoid or minimize serious vascular complications. MDCT angiography is currently, the modality of choice in detecting such variations because of its non-invasive nature and diagnostic accuracy. We wanted to evaluate and estimate the prevalence of variations of celiac artery and hepatic artery by MDCT in South Indian population. METHODS MDCT angiographies of 400 patients of all age groups presented with various conditions were studied in the Department of Radiodiagnosis of tertiary care center. Patients showing derangement of the target vascular area were excluded from the study. Branching pattern of celiac artery and hepatic artery was assessed by using thin sections and post processing techniques such as maximum-intensityprojection images and volume-rendered images. Variations of celiac artery were observed based on Uflacker’s classification and common hepatic artery based on Michele’s classification system. Collected data was entered in excel sheets and presented as descriptive statistics in the form of frequency tables. RESULTS Variations of celiac artery which is based on Uflacker’s classification was observed in 24% of the study sample in which type V was the most common variant seen in 10.8% followed by type II in 5.8%, type III in 4.1% and type VI in 2.5%. In case of variations of common hepatic artery which is based on Michele’s classification, type III was the most common variant shown by 15% of the individuals followed by type II in 10.8% and type IV in 1.6%. CONCLUSIONS The branching pattern of celiac and common hepatic arteries is not constant, and variations are commonly encountered in day to day practice. Identification and reporting of these variations is crucial to avoid further complications. MDCT angiography has high potential and is an easily accessible imaging technique that facilitates fast and accurate assessment of abdominal vasculature in a noninvasive manner.
