A rare case of absence of the celiac trunk: the left gastric, the splenic, the common hepatic and the superior mesenteric arteries arising independently from the abdominal aorta.

This report describes a rare case of absence of the celiac trunk, which was encountered in a Japanese female cadaver in the dissecting room at Kurume University School of Medicine in 1993. In this case, the left gastric, the splenic, the common hepatic and the superior mesenteric arteries arose independently in that order from the abdominal aorta. In addition, the left aberrant hepatic artery arose from the left gastric artery. This anomalous case belongs to type 5 (Typus primitivus) of Morita's classification (1935), and is the fifth case of this kind of vascular variation to be reported in Japan.