European Journal of Anatomy

Official Journal of The Spanish Society of Anatomy
Cover Volume 21 - Number 1
Eur J Anat, 21 (1): 13-18 (2017)

Study of the normal anatomy and variations of portal vein in North Indian population: a MDCT study

Vanita Sharma1, R.S. Chauhan1, R.G. Sood2, Sushma Makhaik2, Kavita Negi1, Kunal Chawla1, Yogesh Diwan1, Anju Partap1, Susheela Rana1, Ankur Gupta1

1Department of Anatomy, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India, 2Department of Radiodiagnosis, Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT Knowledge of the anatomy of the portal vein and its variations is important for performing surgical interventions, transplantation and other interventional procedures of the liver. While planning for adult right lobe liver transplantation, preoperative examination of potential donors can be carried out by use of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). The study was conducted on randomly selected one hundred North Indian patients who were routinely coming for CT abdomen in the department of Radio-Diagnosis at a tertiary care centre in North India. The analysis of MDCT abdomen was done for branching patterns of PV and was classified as described by Covey et al. (2004).Portal vein (PV) variations were identified in 29 out of 100 patients. The prevalence of PV variations in male and female were 27.5% and 30% respectively. Trifurcation (Type II) was the most common variant present in 12% cases. The next common variant (Type IV) was observed in 7% cases, in which Segment VII branch was a separate branch of the right portal vein. Type III i.e. left portal vein was arising after origin of right anterior portal vein (5%) and Type V (segment VI branch as separate branch of right portal vein) was detected in 5% cases each. Preoperative or intraoperative lack of awareness of PV variations can result in injury, and their knowledge can reduce the incidence of complications. So, clinically important PV variants should be reported on CT.

Keywords: Portal vein â?? Variations â?? MDCT â?? Liver â?? Transplantation

European Journal of anatomy
ISSN 2340-311X (Online)