J Korean Med Sci.  2011 Oct;26(10):1382-1385. 10.3346/jkms.2011.26.10.1382.

A Case of the Inferior Mesenteric Artery Arising from the Superior Mesenteric Artery in a Korean Woman

• Yoo SJ
• Ku MJ
• Cho SS
• Yoon SP

• KMID: 1785999
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2011.26.10.1382

Abstract

Anatomical variations of the inferior mesenteric artery are extremely uncommon, since the inferior mesenteric artery is regularly diverged at the level of the third lumbar vertebra. We found a rare case in which the inferior mesenteric artery arose from the superior mesenteric artery. The findings were made during a routine dissection of the cadaver of an 82-yr-old Korean woman. This is the tenth report on this anomaly, the second female and the first Korean. The superior mesenteric artery normally arising from abdominal aorta sent the inferior mesenteric artery as the second branch. The longitudinal anastomosis vessels between the superior mesenteric artery and inferior mesenteric artery survived to form the common mesenteric artery. This anatomical variation concerning the common mesenteric artery is of clinical importance, performing procedures containing the superior mesenteric artery.

Keyword

Variation; Mesenteric Artery, Inferior; Longitudinal Anastomosis Vessel

MeSH Terms

Aged, 80 and over
Aorta, Abdominal/abnormalities
Female
Humans
Mesenteric Artery, Inferior/*abnormalities/anatomy & histology
Mesenteric Artery, Superior/*abnormalities/anatomy & histology
Republic of Korea

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Schematic diagrams (A-C) and representative photographs (B1 and C1) showing the arrangements of the origin of the celiac trunk (CT), superior mesenteric artery (SMA) and inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) from dorsal aorta (DA). (A) Embryonic dorsal aorta comprises the seven of the ventral splanchnic arteries (VSA) connected by a longitudinal anastomosis vessels (LA). (B) and (B1) The typical vascular network of abdominal aorta (Ao) formed by the partial disappearance of the longitudinal anastomosis vessels. (C) and (C1). Retention of parts of this primitive arterial channels could give rise to anomalous variation of the SMA and the IMA. G, left gastric artery; H, common hepatic artery; S, splenic artery; CMA, common mesenteric artery; IVC, inferior vena cava.

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  Fig. 2 Photographs of the arterial system in the area of the common mesenteric artery of the reported case (A, posterior aspect; B, anterior aspect). The inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) arose from the superior mesenteric artery from the left-anterior surface as the second branch, while the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery (ipda) from the right-posterior surface as the first branch. H, common hepatic artery; S, splenic artery; lca, left colic artery; sa, sigmoid artery.

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