SUMMARY
Background: Studying variational anatomy of the splenic artery is important not only as a mean of extending the basic knowledge of human anatomy, but is significant also in surgical practice. The variations include the origin of the artery, its course, length, branching and others. It is vital to know them because these variants can influence surgical strategies, possibility of complications, and also prospects of spleen conservation.
Design: We dissected 147 (81 males, 66 females) cadavers obtained from the Institute of Pathological Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, to study the variations in length of the splenic artery.
Results: The mean total length of the splenic artery outside the spleen was 17.7 cm in men and 17.6 cm in women, in the interval from 12 to 20 cm. The average direct distance between the splenic artery furcation from the aorta and its entering into the spleen at the splenic hilum was 10 cm. The results showed no differences in the length of the splenic artery between men and women. The length increased with age as the result of its augmented twisting.
Conclusions: The variation in the splenic artery length and other characteristics are clinically relevant and need further study in order to refine surgical approaches in the supracolic compartment of the abdominal cavity.
Keywords: spleen, splenic artery, parts of splenic artery, splenectomy, multivisceral resection.
Lek Obz, 2022, 71 (2): 46-48
Štefan DURDÍK 1*, Viktor REKEŇ 1, Vítězslav MAREK 1, Štefan NEMERGUT 1, Luis Miguel Arciniegas RODRIGUEZ 1, Martin KLEIN 2, Ivan VARGA 2
1 Department of Oncological Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Bratislava, and St. Elisabeth Cancer Institute, Bratislava, Slovakia, head prof. Š. Durdík, MD., PhD., MHA.
2 Institute of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, head prof. Š. Polák, MD., PhD.
CITE:
DURDÍK Š., REKEŇ V., MAREK V., NEMERGUT Š., RODRIGUEZ L. M. A., KLEIN M., VARGA I.: Variational anatomy of the splenic artery with implications for surgical practice. Lek Obz, 2022, 71 (2): 46-48
