Anatomical variations in the branches of the coeliac trunk

The coeliac trunk is the first ventral branch of the abdominal aorta and it supplies the supracolic organs. Usually, it branches into the left gastric, the common hepatic and the splenic arteries. Although it usually comprises the same basic components, there is a great deal of variation within the coeliac artery branches. The aim of this study was to describe such variations in detail. This study was conducted on 20 cadavers (3 females and 17 males) which were used during the routine dissection for first year MBBS students in the department of Anatomy, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India. Variations in the branching pattern of the coeliac artery was observed in two cadavers and the rest of the cadavers showed the normal branching pattern. The vascular patterns are important in the planning and performance of all the upper abdominal surgical procedures. Knowledge on the variations of the coeliac trunk is important for procedures such as liver transplants, for appropriate vascular ligation and anastomosis and also, for surgical and radiological procedures around the head of the pancreas. It is also useful in planning and executing radiological interventions such as celiacography and the chemoembolization of hepatic tumours.