Multiple vascular variations of abdominal vessels in a male cadaver: Embryological perspective and clinical importance

Multiple variations in upper abdominal vessels were observed during routine dissection of abdomen in a 50 year old male Indian cadaver. A long and unusually thick celiac trunk was observed arising ventrolaterally at the level of T12 and L1. The celiac trunk gave rise to four branches out of which left gastric artery was the first branch and the remaining three were common hepatic artery, a tortuous dorsal pancreatic artery and a non-tortuous splenic artery. The right inferior phrenic and right middle suprarenal arteries were found to arise from right renal artery via a common trunk. The left inferior phrenic artery and left testicular artery were found to arise from abdominal aorta via a common trunk just above the left renal artery. In addition, a large left lumbar vein was observed which drained into left renal vein, close to its termination into inferior vena cava. The present paper describes the multiple anatomical variations with embryological basis.