Cadaveric Study of Varoations in Branching Pattern of Splenic Artery.

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Splenic artery was previously called as Lineal artery. Splenic artery is the largest branch of the celiac trunk and is the most tortuous artery in the body. Splenic artery mainly supplies spleen and gives off branches to the stomach and the pancreas. Splenic artery divides into terminal branches before entering into the hilum of the spleen which may be Magistral or Distributed type. Sometimes it may pass through the hilum without dividing and supplies the spleen. Materials and methods: The study was done on 50 embalmed cadavers during routine dissection practices for undergraduates in the dissection hall of Gandhi Medical College, Secunderabad, and from the Department of Anatomy Osmania medical college, Hyderabad, during the period of 3years.The variations in the branching pattern of the splenic artery was observed and photographed. The prime objective of the study is to compare the prevalence of variations in the branching pattern of splenic artery. Results and conclusion: The variations in the present study were almost correlated with the available literature. In some instances the left gastro epiploic artery, the posterior gastric artery and the accessory left gastric artery took origin from the interior of spleen. so care should be taken during splenectomy. Hence, the arterial blood supply of spleen is so varied that no two vascular patterns are ever the same.