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Topographical relationship between the accessory hepatic duct and the hepatic artery system

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Abstract

Hepatic biliary injury is one of the most common complications in cholecystectomy and is frequently accompanied by arterial injuries. Because there are several anatomical variations of the hepatic ducts, including the accessory hepatic ducts (AHDs), it is important to consider not only the anatomical position of the hepatic ducts but also those of the AHDs in cholecystectomy. However, the topographical relationships between the AHDs and the hepatic arteries are still poorly understood. In the present study we show that AHDs were observed in 7 out of 59 (11.9%) of the cadavers. There was a single AHD in the 6 out of the 7 cadavers and double AHDs in one. In these cases, the right AHDs emerged from the anterior medial segment of the liver piercing the parenchyma, while the left AHDs emerged directly from the anterior part of the caudate lobe. The right AHDs ran anterior to the right hepatic artery, while the left AHDs ran posterior to the hepatic arteries. The topographical relationship between the AHD and the hepatic artery system was thus reversed in the cases of the right and the left AHDs.

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Abbreviations

AHD:

Accessory hepatic duct

CA:

Cystic artery

CBD:

Common bile duct

CD:

Cystic duct

CHA:

Common hepatic artery

CHD:

Common hepatic duct

CT:

Celiac trunk

GdA:

Gastroduodenal artery

HD:

Hepatic duct

IPdA:

Inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery

LGA:

Left gastric artery

LHA:

Left hepatic artery

LHD:

Left hepatic duct

MHA:

Middle hepatic artery

PHA:

Proper hepatic artery

PSPdA:

Posterior superior pancreaticoduodenal artery

PV:

Portal vein

RGA:

Right gastric artery

RHA:

Right hepatic artery

RHD:

Right hepatic duct

RPSHD:

Right posterior sectorial hepatic duct

SA:

Splenic artery

SdA:

Supraduodenal artery

SMA:

Superior mesenteric artery

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Dr. N. Higashi (Professor Emeritus, Kanazawa Medical University) for his expert advice and technical assistance.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI: Grant 19H04212).

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Author notes

  1. Takashi Tanaka, Takayuki Nakada contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy II, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Uchinada, Kahoku, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan

    Takashi Tanaka, Tetsufumi Ito, Rieko Kominami, Miyuki Kagaya, Katsushi Kawai & Satoru Honma

  2. Anatomy Center, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Uchinada, Kahoku, Ishikawa, 920-0293, Japan

    Takayuki Nakada

  3. Department of Anatomy, School of Dentistry, Asahi University, 1851 Hozumi, Mizuho, Gifu, 501-0296, Japan

    Takahiro Sonomura

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  1. Takashi Tanaka
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  3. Tetsufumi Ito
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Correspondence to Satoru Honma.

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Tanaka, T., Nakada, T., Ito, T. et al. Topographical relationship between the accessory hepatic duct and the hepatic artery system. Anat Sci Int 96, 112–118 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12565-020-00568-6

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