Anatomic variations of the hepatic arteries in 200 patients done by angiography.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and classify hepatic artery variations of 200 patients by angiography. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Celiac and superior mesenteric artery (SMA) angiographic studies of 200 patients at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (KCMH) from January 2003 to July 2004 were retrospectively reviewed. Anatomic findings were classified according to Michels and Hiatt's classifications. RESULTS: The vascular anatomy of the liver was classified according to two different established systems. Hepatic arterial patterns were analyzed in order offrequency discovered as the following; normal pattern in textbook descriptions 80.5%, a replaced or accessory right hepatic artery (RHA) originating from the SMA 11.5% and a replaced or accessory left hepatic artery (LHA) originating from the left gastric artery (LGA) 5.5%. In 0.5% of the cases, there was a combination of variations of both RHA and LHA. Variants of the common hepatic artery (CHA) arising from the SMA were found in 0.5%. 1.5% of cases were not classified by either Michels or Hiatt's classifications. CONCLUSION: The present study had the same results by the higher rates of normal hepatic anatomy with lower rates of other types compared to Michels and Hiatt's studies. In addition, the authors found cases of rare variations that were not classified by either Michels or Hiatt but were previously reported by other publications.