Multivariations of the Left Gastric Artery: A Case Report

The left gastric artery, which is the smallest branch of the coeliac trunk, travels along the lesser curvature of the stomach. During routine abdominal dissections, we encountered multivariations of the left gastric artery in a 65 year old male cadaver. The left gastric artery arose from the coeliac trunk as the first branch, afterwards it divided into two branches. The branch which passed to the right side gave three branches; to the left lobe of the liver (an accessory hepatic artery), to the fundus of the stomach and oesophagus, respectively. The branch which passed to the left side divided into two main trunks. The anterior trunk supplied the fundus and anterior wall of the stomach and the posterior trunk supplied the fundus and the posterior wall of the stomach. Consequently the posterior wall of the stomach was supplied by the posterior trunk instead of the posterior gastric artery of the splenic artery. Knowledge of the different anatomical variations of the arterial supply of the liver and stomach is of great importance in hepatobiliary and gastric surgical procedures. Therefore we believe our case will facilitate clinical aproaches related to this region.