Coexistence of rare arteries in the human celiaco-mesenteric system.

Some rare anomalies of the celiaco-mesenteric system were observed postmortem in a Japanese adult male: a) The left gastric, common hepatic, splenic and superior mesenteric arteries arose independently from the abdominal aorta. b) The anterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery of the superior mesenteric artery issued a hepatic artery which ascended along the anterior surface of the pancreas and gave off the right gastroepiploic, right gastric and cystic arteries. c) The common hepatic artery gave off an anastomosing branch to the superior mesenteric artery. d) The left gastric artery gave off the left accessory hepatic artery. e) The splenic artery issued the accessory middle colic artery. f) The left inferior phrenic artery gave off the esophageal branch. These anomalies are discussed in light of a typological system which we proposed in a previous paper for the celiaco-mesenteric system.