A RADIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF THE LENGTH OF THE HEPATIC ARTERY AND ITS PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS DURING LIVER TRANSPLANTATION

Pallavi; Smithi Sripathi; Ravichandra V

Volume : IV, Issue : IX, September - 2015

A RADIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF THE LENGTH OF THE HEPATIC ARTERY AND ITS PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS DURING LIVER TRANSPLANTATION

Pallavi, Smithi Sripathi, Ravichandra V

Abstract :

Liver, the largest internal organ in the human body is highly vascular due to the presence of two distinct vascular channels feeding the liver.Common hepatic artery (CHA) is anch of coeliac axis (CA) which continues as proper hepatic artery(PHA) and ends by dividing into right and left hepatic arteries. The point of emergence of the gastroduodenal artery (GDA) determines the relative lengths of the CHA and PHA.Present study was intended to provide a tabular information of the relative lengths of CHA and PHA which can help a surgeon to select/reject a donor liver for transplantation.The study was conducted using 200 images of MDCT angiography done on patients aged between 18 to 80years, for various clinical indications in the department of radiodiagnosis and imaging, Kasturba medical college, Manipal, India.In this study the mean lengths of the CHA and PHA were 3.47cm and 2.08cm respectively. The most frequent range of the CHA length was 3.1-4cm and that of the PHA was 2.6-3m.It was concluded that the knowledge of the relative lengths of CHA and PHA are also an essential part of post-surgical outcome and the surgeon should be aware about the presence of individual variations in the relative lengths of CHA and PHA to select an ideal donor for liver transplantation.