NEWER ANATOMY OF LIVER-VARIANT BLOOD SUPPLY AND COLLATERAL CIRCULATION

Abstract

To facilitate and safeguard operative procedures on the liver and gallbladder, there has been a need for comprehensive knowledge of the varied patterns of extrahepatic arteries and bile ducts. Two hundred dissections of vessels that supply blood to the upper abdominal organs were done, and the vessels conformed to the textbook description in only 55% of the cadavers. Similarly, the incidence of the cystic artery originating from the celiac right hepatic artery was 63 %. The reason found for this deviation was that hepatic arteries were sometimes derived from the left gastric and superior mesenteric arteries. In the past these hepatic arteries were considered to be accessory vessels, but such a terminology can no longer apply since each hepatic artery is known to function as an end artery. Not one can be sacrificed without a resulting necrosis of liver tissue, for each has a selective distribution to a definite area of the liver.