Anatomic variants of arteries often coil-occluded prior to hepatic radioembolization.

BACKGROUND

Prior to radioembolization (RE) treatment of malignant liver lesions, many interventionalists occlude the right gastric artery (RGA), the cystic artery (CA), and the gastroduodenal artery (GDA) to prevent radioactive microspheres from entering non-target vessels.

PURPOSE

To systematically analyze anatomic variants of arteries that are important to know for the interventional radiologist performing RE of the liver.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The computed tomography (CT) angiographies and conventional angiographies of 166 patients evaluated for RE were retrospectively analyzed for the presence of anatomic variants of the RGA, GDA, and CA.

RESULTS

The RGA was found to arise from the left hepatic artery in 42% of cases, from the proper hepatic artery in 40%, from the GDA in 10%, from the right hepatic artery in 4%, and from the common hepatic artery in 3% of cases. The GDA originated in the common hepatic artery in 97% of cases, in the left hepatic artery in 2%, and in the celiac trunk in 1% of cases. The CA arose from the right hepatic artery in 96% of cases and from the GDA in 2% of cases; in 2% of our study population, the gallbladder was supplied by small branches from the liver parenchyma.

CONCLUSION

Variant anatomy of the RGA is common, while it is quite rare for the GDA and CA. Knowledge of the variations of liver supplying arteries helps the interventionalist to embolize necessary vessels prior to RE.