title: Ring-shaped variation of the coeliac trunk branches.
abstract: Aberrant arterial variations in the branching pattern of the coeliac trunk are of great interest to surgeons and radiologists. We report on a rare arterial variation found in a 79-year-old cadaver during educational dissection. Specifically, the coeliac axis formed a unique incomplete trunk termed the hepato-hepatic trunk. The splenic artery arose separately from the anterior aspect of the abdominal aorta. On the right side, there was a right hepatic artery giving rise to a gastroduodenal but an absence of the left hepatic. On the left side, there was a branch coursing towards the porta hepatis; the left hepatic artery, dividing into the left gastric, an accessory left gastric, and a branch to the distal oesophagus. The hepato-hepatic trunk formed a ring-shaped vascular structure around the caudate lobe of the liver. Precise mapping and observation of the extrahepatic arteries and bile duct branches is essential in a variety of hepato-biliary laparoscopic procedures of the liver and gallbladder. Other operative procedures requiring, a comprehensive kno-wledge of the varied coeliac trunk patterns are liver transplantation and arterial embolism for hepatic tumour therapy.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, Queensland, Australia. a.raikos@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raikos
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pynadath
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Anguswamy
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vallath
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kordali
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stirling
keywords: coeliac artery; coeliac axis; hepatic artery; hepato-hepatic trunk; incomplete coeliac trunk; left hepatic artery; splenic artery