A Study of Variant Anatomy of Gonadal Arteries in 40 Adult Males: A Cross-sectional Cadaveric Study

Abstract

Introduction: The surgeons are witnessing an ever-increasing range of operative procedures with increasing levels of complexity in the abdominal cavity. So, the anatomy of blood vessels of abdominal cavity has assumed much more importance. Knowledge of variations in the gonadal artery is essential during renal and gonadal surgery as these variations may influence the blood flow to the kidney and gonads and cause some pathological conditions such as varicocoele and gonadal atrophy. Aim: To assess the prevalence of variations in origin and course of the gonadal arteries and to discuss their clinical significance. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional cadaveric study was done in 40 human cadavers which were well embalmed and allotted for under graduate teaching in the Department of Anatomy, Madurai Medical College Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, from the year June 2010 to May 2015. The human cadavers were numbered serially from 1-40. The routine dissection of abdomen was done. The origin and course of the gonadal arteries were traced. Variations in number, origin and course of the gonadal arteries were noted. The incidence of gonadal artery arising from the renal artery was calculated. Prevalence of variant origin of gonadal artery from renal artery was noted. Software of MacBook pages was used to gather the data. Categorical data were presented as mean and percentage. Results: In the present study, in 36 cadavers (90%) the gonadal artery was normal in source of origin, and took normal course in 39 cadavers (97.5%). In the remaining cadavers different variations were observed. The variations found in this study include the gonadal arteries arising from the renal artery 4 (10%) cadavers and according with course arching of left gonadal artery over the left renal vein seen in 1 (2.5%) cadaver. In the current study, the vertebral level of origin of the artery ranged from the intervertebral disc of first and second lumbar vertebra to upper 1/3rd of the third lumbar vertebra on the right-side and between upper 1/3rd of first lumbar to lower 1/3rd of third vertebra on the left-side. Conclusion: During surgical and diagnostic interventions at the level of renal, gonadal and para aortic vessels arterial variations are clinically important to avoid risk of haemorrhage, ischaemia of particular organs. Those arterial variations are not only unilateral but also bilateral associations of vascular anomaly must be considered.