Surgical significance of anatomic variations of the hepatic artery

By means of selective arteriography, anatomic variations of the hepatic artery in 200 patients were observed. They were classified into three groups on the basis of the number of the hepatic arteries. The classification has a more direct significance to surgery of the upper abdominal organs than those proposed by anatomists. The single hepatic artery classification was applicable in 58.5 per cent of the cases, in which the normal “textbook” pattern was limited to 53.5 per cent (107 of 200 cases). The double hepatic artery group consisted of 37.0 per cent of the cases and the multiple hepatic artery group 4.5 per cent. Each group was further divided into the celiac, mixed, and mesenteric types according to the origin of the hepatic artery. Combination of the three groups and three types yielded twentyseven different distribution patterns of the hepatic artery. In addition, surgical significance of the classification was illustrated in cases of tumors of the liver and pancreas.