AN ACCESSORY RIGHT HEPATIC ARTERY ARISING FROM SUPERIOR MESENTERIC ARTERY AND ITS CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Background:Knowledge of hepatic arterial vascularization and its variations have a significantrelevance for the daily practice of hepato-biliary surgeon as well as radiologists and anatomists.The right hepatic artery normally arises from the hepatic artery proper, the continuation of thecommon hepatic artery which is a branch of celiac trunk. Sometimes the anatomical arterialvariations are also very common in human beings especially in hepatic region.During routinedissectionsfor undergraduate medical students at Department of Anatomy, in a 75 -year-oldmale cadaver, we foundthe right accessory hepatic artery arises from the superior mesentericartery which supplied the right lobe of the liver along with normal right hepatic artery. In addition,a direct branch to the left lobe of the liver was seen arising from common hepatic artery. Thearterial anomaly can be enlightened by embryonic development. The knowledge of existenceof aberrant hepatic arteries, either accessory or replacing, is important because they mayinfluence surgical and interventional radiological procedures.