Abnormal obturator artery with ipsilateral inferior epigastric artery passed behind the femoral vein / Arteria obturatriz anómala con arteria epigástrica inferior ipsilateral que cruza posterior a la vena femoral

SUMMARY: Clear awareness of the vascular variations is critical in surgeries, which may cause massive hemorrhage during surgical procedures. During educational dissection of a male cadaver, we encountered a combined variation of the left obturator artery and ipsilateral aberrant inferior epigastric artery. The left obturator artery originated from the external iliac artery, then coursed inward, adherent to the superior pubic ramus. The left inferior epigastric artery originated from the femoral artery, and coursed behind the femoral vein. These anatomical variations shown in one person were extremely rare. This is particularly true with regard to these variations while performing pelvic and inguinal region surgeries.

El conocimiento claro de las variaciones vasculares es fundamental en las cirugías, ya que pueden causar una hemorragia masiva durante los procedimientos quirúrgicos. Durante la disección educativa de un cadáver de sexo masculino, encontramos una variación combinada de la arteria obturatriz izquierda y la arteria epigástrica inferior ipsilateral aberrante. La arteria obturatriz izquierda se originaba en la arteria ilíaca externa, luego discurrió hacia medial, adhiriéndose a la rama púbica superior. La arteria epigástrica inferior izquierda se originaba en la arteria femoral y discurría por detrás de la vena femoral. Estas variaciones anatómicas mostradas en una sola persona son extremadamente raras. Esto es importante de conocer estas variaciones cuando se realizan cirugías de las regiones pélvica e inguinal.

Techniques for covering soft tissue defects resulting from plantar ulcers in leprosy: Part V. Use of the flap in the inguinal region and latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap.

The area of distribution of the superficial circumflex iliac, superficial epigastric and superficial external pudental arteries is large and flaps based on them can meet the requirement of different recipient sites. We have transplanted free flaps based on the superficial epigastric artery for repairing plantar soft tissue defects in six leprosy patients. During the follow-up examination 58 to 118 months later there has been no recurrence of ulceration in any of these cases. The latissimus dorsi muscle, is mainly nourished by the thoracadorsal artery and the latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous flap is a large sized, composite structure with abundant blood provision and strong anti-infectious property. The latissimus dorsi flap can be used as an artery-pedicled island flap or as a free flap besides its use as a muscle graft, because of its constant vascular position, wide outer-diameter of the vessels and long pedicle. It can therefore be utilized for repairing soft tissue defect or replacement of paralyzed muscle. We have used the latissimus dorsi musculocutaneous free flap for repairing large skin and soft tissue defects resulting from plantar ulceration in three leprosy patients. During the follow-up period, one patient who had complete drop-foot and had refused corrective surgery had recurrence of the ulcer in the 12th post-operative month. No ulcers had recurred in the other two cases during the follow-up at 48 and 114 months.