Anomalous Anatomical Variations of Coeliac Trunk: A Cadaveric Study

Background The celiac trunk, celiac axis or celiac artery is the first major abdominal branch of the aorta. Anatomical variations of the coeliac trunk and along with the other branches of the abdominal aorta result from changes in the ventral segmental arteries supplying the digestive tube during foetal development. Panagouli performed a systemaic review and proposed a new classification describing all celiac trunk variations through a systematic review. Knowledge of the celiac trunk anatomy and any variations is clinically relevant in esophageal, gastroduodenal, hepatic, biliary and pancreatic angiographic and surgical procedures. The purpose of this study is to report the pattern of the celiac trunk and its variations in a sample of the Indian population as per the Panagouli classification. Methods This was an observational study done in the period from September 2018 to October 2020 in the department of surgery of Gandhi Medical College & Hamidia Hospital, Bhopal, India. Cadaveric dissection was carried out in the department of forensic medicine and toxicology after obtaining approval from the ethical committee. Results We did our study in 50 cadavers to look for further anatomical variations. The most common form found was true tripus Halleri. The rest of the variations noted included false tripus Halleri. Other variations were hepatosplenic trunk with left gastric artery arising from the aorta (6%), hepatosplenic trunk with no normal left gastric artery (2%), Hepatosplenic trunk with gastromesenteric trunk (2%) and coeliacomesenteric trunk (2%). Conclusions The congenital anomalies of the coeliac trunk have been long recognized and are of significant clinical importance as they may surprise the surgeon during surgery. Also, the wide spectrum of anomalies present in this area can be recognized by modern radiological evaluations like multi-detector helical computed tomography, MRI and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP). Having the knowledge of these anatomical variations in mind may prevent inadvertent injuries during routine and complex hepato-pancreaticobiliary procedures.