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Common hepatic artery arising from the left gastric artery: a rare anatomic variation identified on a cadaveric liver donor

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Abstract

Anatomical variations of the arterial supply of the liver are not uncommon. The typical normal “textbook” anatomy of the hepatic artery is found only in approximately half of the cases. Some of the variations such as the presence of a right or left hepatic branch are more common, but other ones are extremely rare. We describe here a rare case in which the common hepatic artery arose from the left gastric artery, found during a cadaveric liver donor harvesting and confirmed with imaging studies. Cases like this one highlight the importance of knowing the hepatic arterial anatomy and the possibility of its numerous variations by the transplant and hepatobiliary surgeon.

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Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Max Seidensticker, rotating Medical Student from the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, for his invaluable help in finding similar cases from the international literature.

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Correspondence to Gonzalo Rodriguez-Laiz.

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Uva, P., Arvelakis, A., Rodriguez-Laiz, G. et al. Common hepatic artery arising from the left gastric artery: a rare anatomic variation identified on a cadaveric liver donor. Surg Radiol Anat 29, 93–95 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-006-0159-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-006-0159-z

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