Anatomical variations of the splenic artery and its relationship with vascular or abdominal pathologies: Systematic review

Abstract

IntroductionThe spleen is an abdominal organ whose weight represents 0.2% of total body weight. It contains 3% of cardiac output, constituting one of the most vascularized abdominal organs. This corresponds to the thickness of your blood vessels and their main function, which is to destroy old erythrocytes and the production of blood cells for the maintenance of a blood reserve.MethodsA systematized search was carried out in electronic databases, in order to compile the available literature on the subject to be treated. The search process was carried out in the following databases; MEDLINE, SCIELO, WOS, CINHAL, SCOPUS and GOOGLE SCHOLAR, using as search terms; “Splenic artery”, “Vacularization splenic,” Anatomical variations “,” Splenic organ “and” Clinical anatomy “.ResultsOf a total of 16 studies included in this review, 8 studies reported in their results clinical correlations of anatomical variations in the splenic artery with surgical procedures in the abdominal region, mostly associated with surgery of the pancreas, liver, stomach and bile ducts. While 8 studies reported clinical correlations of the anatomical variations in the splenic artery in their results with the diagnostic and therapeutic study through images of the abdominal region, the included studies were analyzed with the respective risk of bias for anatomical studies.ConclusionKnowing the normal anatomy and the anatomical variants of the splenic artery are crucial for knowledge both for professionals in the morphological area and for clinical professionals who address the abdominal region and its vascular components, in this review we have been able to know that the variation of the splenic artery can be in different regions of its trajectory, which gives us to understand that in any abdominal intervention of the region of the trajectory of this artery there could be some complication if the possible variations of the splenic artery are not known, for which It is suggested to carry out new clinical anatomical studies that consider this variation in both the diagnostic and surgical processes.