Sphenoidal emissary foramen and its clinical consideration

Background:Sphenoidal emissary foramen is a small, variable and an inconstant foramen in middle cranial fossa which is located antero-medial to the foramen ovale. Emissary vein passing through it connects the pterygoid venous plexus with the cavernous sinus which has clinical significance because through an extra-cranial infection may reach to cavernous sinus. Aim of present study was to investigate the incidence and shape of sphenoidal emissary foramen, the number of present on one side and the presence of bony septum in it.Methods: Two hundred and fifty (right 250; left-250) dry Indian adult skulls of unknown age and sex were used for this study. Middle cranial fossa of each skull was macroscopically observed for the presence, absence of sphenoidal emissary foramen. Patency was confirmed by inserting a bristle through each probable foramen and only patent foramen were calculated.Results: We observed that sphenoidal emissary foramen was present in 72 (28.8%) skulls. Unilaterally it was present in 17.6% and bilaterally in 11.2% skulls.Conclusions: Incidence of this foramen is variable and therefore recognition of this anatomical structure is important. Knowledge of their variations will be helpful for neurosurgeons and radiologist.

An Aberrant Artery Arising From Common Hepatic Artery

Common hepatic artery is the branch of celiac trunk which is chief artery of the foregut. Branches of celiac trunk supply the gastrointestinal tract and its associated glands which are derived from foregut. Anatomy and variations of hepatic arterial system have become increasingly important due to increasing number of laparoscopic procedures, oncologic surgical interventions, and organ transplant cases. This case report describes a rare anatomical variation of an aberrant artery arising from common hepatic artery before the origin of gastroduodenal artery and proper hepatic artery.The aberrant artery traversed inferiorly and behind the body of the pancreas which divided into a right and left branches. The right branch ran behind the neck of the pancreas and it ended after giving few branches to head and body of pancreas. However, the left branch gave off branches to the proximal part of the jejunum. The presence of a branch arising directly from the common hepatic artery supplying the pancreas and jejunum is uncommon. Knowledge of such a rare variation is important not only for surgeons but also interventional radiologists and those studying anatom

An Anomalous Branching of Coeliac Trunk

Anatomical variations of the coeliac trunk arevery common. A variation of coeliac trunk oc-curs due to the developmental abnormalities inthe ventral splanchnic arteries. Present paperhighlights a rare variation of branching patternof coeliac trunk which was observed during rou-tine dissection. In a 63 year old male cadaver,we observed a bifurcation of coeliac trunk intoshort hepato-splenic and longer hepato-gastrictrunks. The hepato-splenic trunk divided intocommon hepatic artery and splenic artery. Cys-tic artery originated from proper hepatic arteryand then proper hepatic artery divided into rightand left hepatic arteries. Hepato-gastric trunkran laterally and upward, and then it divided intotwo branches: a left gastric artery and left ac-cessory hepatic artery. Knowledge of this rarevariation is clinically very important for sur-geons, especially while performing liver trans-plantation, gastric, gallbladder surgeries andtransarterial chemoembolization for hepatictumor and during invasive procedures like an-giography and also other radiological studies