Study of Multiple Renal Arteries Using Corrosion Casts and CT Angiography

Abstract

This study evaluated the vascular territories of multiple renal arteries according to their trajects and distances between their origins.The materials used were 200 renal corrosion casts, made by injecting the vascular and ductal elements with a plastic compound and corroding the parenchyma with hydrochloric acid, and 100 CT angiographies conducted with a Siemens Somatom Sensation 64 CT.There was a 22% frequency of multiple renal arteries. The CT angiographies were used to analyze the distances between the arteries' origin points and their trajects. The distances varied between 0.1–5.7 cm and the trajects of the additional arteries, in comparison to that of the main artery was parallel (above or below) in 42% of cases, ascending in 31% of cases, descending in 19% of cases and crossing in 9% of cases. Arteries only crossed when the distance between their origins was less than 0.8cm (9.53% of cases). The corrosion casts were used to determine intraparencymatous division and vascular territories. The superior renal artery is the main one in 76.2% of cases, the middle one in 2.38% of cases and the inferior one in 16.66% of cases. In 4.76% of cases, there are two main arteries – superior and middle or superior and inferior (equal occurrences).Combining the two methods of study allows a more complex analysis of morphological parameters, the trajects and vascular territories in the cases where multiple renal arteries are present.