A Rare Case of Abnormal Inferior Mesenteric Artery

Naoki Kakihara, Shigeru Takahishi, Youji Tsuchihashi, Atsushi Takenaka, Hiroshi Izumi, Koji Hujii, Osamu Ikawa, Ryoji Iizuka, Keigo Miyata and Hiromi Matsumura

Department of Surgery, Kyoto Second Red Cross Hospital

A 66-year-old man admitted to our hospital due to tarry stool was found in a lower intestinal examination to have rectal cancer. Preoperative abdominal angiography revealed the inferior mesenteric artery arose from the superior mesenteric artery. Between 1980 and 2000, 3,182 abdominal angiographs were underwent to the intestinal cancer cases in our hospital. The variant of the inferior mesenteric artery was normal by originated from the aorta in 3,177 (99.85%), a defect of the inferior mesenteric artery in 1 (0.03%), an abnormality of direction due to internal organ reversal in 2 (0.06%), and the inferior mesenteric artery arising from the superior mesenteric artery in 2 (0.06%).

Key words
inferior mesentiric artery, anatomical variation

Reprint requests
Naoki Kakihara Department of Surgey, Kyoto Second Red Cross Hospital 355-5 Haruobi-cho, Kamaza-Marutamachi-Agaru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, 602-8026 JAPAN

Accepted
May 23, 2001

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