An unusual case of colon vascularization by the inferior mesenteric artery

Abstract

In this article we present a rare variant in which the large intestine was vascularized by the inferior mesenteric artery. It was encountered during macro and microscopic dissection of the cadaver of a 63-year-old woman at a university department of human anatomy. In this case, the ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid colon and rectum were vascularized by the inferior mesenteric artery, whereas the small intestine, cecum and appendix were supplied by the superior mesenteric artery.

A case report of a rare ramification pattern and distribution area of the mesenteric arteries in a Japanese White rabbit (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>)

“…In the rare case reported here, however, the cranial mesenteric artery only gave rise to the caudal pancreaticoduodenal, jejunal and ileal arteries, whereas the caudal mesenteric artery gave origin to the ileocecocolic, middle colic, right colic, left colic and cranial rectal arteries. Although prior rabbit studies have not reported this untypical branching pattern [2,6,7,9], Abe et al [1] and Covanțev et al [4] reported a similar case in humans, in which the cranial mesenteric artery supplied the proximal small portion of the ascending colon and cecum [1], or cecum only [4] via the ileocecal artery. Furthermore, they also found that the caudal mesenteric artery supplied most of the colon via the right colic, cranial left colic and caudal left colic arteries [1], or via the right colic, middle colic, accessory middle colic, left colic and accessory left colic arteries [4].…”

“…In humans, several authors have reported rare ramification patterns of the cranial (=superior) and caudal (=inferior) mesenteric arteries [1,4,5,10,16]. For example, Kitamura et al [10] and Yamasaki et al [16] reported cases where the cranial and caudal mesenteric arteries emerged from the abdominal aorta as a common trunk.…”

“…Dave et al [5] described a duplicated caudal mesenteric artery with one arising from the celiac trunk, while the other originating from the cranial mesenteric artery. Moreover, Abe et al [1] and Covanțev et al [4] reported cases where the cranial mesenteric artery supplied the small intestine and cecum, while the caudal mesenteric artery supplied most of the colon. The embryological causes of such rare variations have also been discussed in detail in several previous reports [1,4,5,10,16].…”

Branching pattern variations of the celiac trunk and superior mesenteric artery in a 72-year-old white female cadaver

“…Thus, alterations both in fusion and regression result in branching variation of the three major abdominal aortic branches. In addition, because their embryonic origins are closely related, persistence of interconnections or overlapping of the territories of the CT, SMA, and IMA are common [3,4,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]18,30,31,34,[36][37][38].…”

Spleen: an organ of multiple shapes

“…The shape and size of the spleen change during ontogenesis. This is partially due to the pressure exerted by the adjacent organs on the spleen [4,5]. Abdominal surgery is founded on a profound understanding of the anatomy including developmental variations [4].…”