Anatomical Variations in the Celiac Trunk: A Short Review

Abstract

Objective. The objective of the current study was the examination of possible variants of the celiac trunk.

Methods. An advanced review of the literature search was undertaken by means of the PubMed database and Google Scholar, searching for new studies published up to October 2022. Additional articles provided useful information in relation to the aim of this review. Hence, articles that met the inclusion criteria were included in this review and the collected data were organized into a table.

Results. The search of the literature retrieved 10 articles that referred to the anatomical variations of the celiac trunk. According to the available literature, the most common anatomical variations are: hepatosplenic trunk where the left gastric artery originates from the abdominal aorta, hepatosplenic trunk, where the left gastric artery originates from the splenic artery, and hepatogastric trunk and splenic artery origin from the superior mesenteric artery. Many other anatomical variations of the celiac trunk may exist, such as tetrafurcation, pentafurcation and hexafurcation, that refer to the division of the celiac trunk into four, five or six branches, respectively, and should be reported as they can affect surgical approaches and the development of the appropriate treatment strategy in patients.

Conclusion. Every visceral surgeon, interventional radiologist and abdominal imager should be familiar with these variants.