Variant Origin of Obturator Artery: A Branch of Inferior Epigastric Artery from External Iliac Artery

Lee, Eun Young; Kim, Ji Young; Kim, Hoo Nam; Sohn, Hyun Joon; Seo, Je Hoon

Abstract

The obturator artery normally originates from the internal iliac artery. However, variation in the origin of obturator artery has been reported in many countries. Since no such case has been reported in Korea, we examined variations in the origin of obturator artery in cadavers donated to the medical school at the Chungbuk National University. Thirty-six pelvic halves from 18 cadaveric subjects (13 males and 5 females) were studied in this study. Normal origin of the obturator artery from the internal iliac artery was observed in 88.9% (16/18) of cadavers or in 91.7% (33/36) of pelvic halves. A variation in the origin of obturator artery was observed in 11.1% (2/18) of cadavers or in 8.3% (3/36) of pelvic halves. All of the variant obturator arteries originated from external iliac arteries as branches of inferior epigastric arteries. Bilateral presence of variant obturator arteries was observed in 5.6%(1/18) of cadavers. The obturator artery arose from inferior epigastric artery at a distance of 1 to 2.4 cm from origin point of inferior epigastric artery, and then the obturator artery ran inferiorly and medially with the inferior epigastric artery running superiorly and laterally. Presence of variant obturator artery would be important to clinical fields with interest to pelvic anatomy, such as radiology and surgery.