Abstract
Background. Classically, each kidney is supplied by a single renal artery originating from abdominal aorta. The present study aimed at its variations and their embryological and clinical correlation. Material and Methods. The formalin-fixed thirty-seven cadavers from north India constituted the material for the study. During routine abdominal dissection conducted for medical undergraduates at the department of anatomy, the kidneys along with their arteries were explored and the morphological variations of renal arteries were noted. Results. We observed supernumerary renal arteries in 23/37 (62.2%) cases (48.6% of aortic origin and 13.5% of renal origin) on the right side and 21/37 (56.8%) cases (45.9% of aortic origin and 10.8% of renal origin) on the left side. Supernumerary renal arteries entered the kidney through hilum, superior pole, and inferior pole. Conclusion. Awareness of variations of renal artery is necessary for surgical management during renal transplantation, repair of abdominal aorta aneurysm, and urological procedures and for angiographic interventions.
Highlights
We believe that prior knowledge of these possible variations of renal arteries may help the surgeon in planning renal transplantation, repair of abdominal aorta aneurysm, urological procedures, and for angiographic interventions [11,12,13]
We studied the origin of supernumerary renal arteries in accordance to the nomenclature of Merklin and Michels [10]: (1) supernumerary renal arteries originating from the aorta; (2) supernumerary renal arteries originating from main renal arteries; (3) supernumerary renal arteries that can come from other sources
The supernumerary renal arteries entered the kidney through hilum as hilar supernumerary renal artery (Figures 1, 2, and 5), through upper pole as upper polar supernumerary renal artery (Figures 3 and 4), and through lower pole as lower polar supernumerary renal artery (Figures 3 and 5)
Summary
The description of a single renal artery arising from abdominal aorta that supplies the respective kidney [1, 2] occurs in less than 25% of cases [3, 4]. We believe that prior knowledge of these possible variations of renal arteries may help the surgeon in planning renal transplantation, repair of abdominal aorta aneurysm, urological procedures, and for angiographic interventions [11,12,13]. Each kidney is supplied by a single renal artery originating from abdominal aorta. Supernumerary renal arteries entered the kidney through hilum, superior pole, and inferior pole. Awareness of variations of renal artery is necessary for surgical management during renal transplantation, repair of abdominal aorta aneurysm, and urological procedures and for angiographic interventions
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