European Journal of Anatomy

Official Journal of The Spanish Society of Anatomy
Cover Volume 24 - Number 6
Eur J Anat, 24 (6): 513-517 (2020)

A left vertebral artery arising from the aortic arch: a cadaveric study

Eleni Patera1, Qiudian Wang1, Zhenyu Chen1, Montserrat R. Silva1, Tarek Almabrouk2, Abduelmenem Alashkham1

1Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom2St. George's International School of Medicine, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT Variations in the major arteries and their branch-es of the thoracic region have been well described with variations of the aortic arch, pulmonary trunk, common carotid arteries and vertebral arteries be-ing among the most common in the thoracic re-gion. During routine dissection of the thoracic and neck regions, the left vertebral artery in a 58-year-old female cadaver was found to arise from the arch of the aorta between the left common carotid and the left subclavian arteries. The left vertebral artery was traced along its course and was ob-served to enter the transverse foramen of the fifth cervical vertebral body. With such variation, the findings can influence predisposition to diseases, symptomatology, clinical examination, investiga-tion and patient management, including operative surgery.

Keywords: Left vertebral artery â?? Anatomical variation â?? Origin of left vertebral artery â?? Course of left vertebral artery â?? Arch of aorta

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