Determination of vertebral levels and distances between unpaired visceral branches of abdominal aorta using three-dimensional multi-detector computed tomography angiographies.

PURPOSE: The unpaired visceral branches of the abdominal aorta (AA) are the coeliac artery (CA), superior mesenteric (SMA), and inferior mesenteric (IMA) arteries. In endovascular surgery and interventional radiology, it is crucial to understand the positions of these arteries and the distance between them and the aortic bifurcation (AB). This study aims to determine the vertebral positions of AA unpaired visceral branches, their distances from each other, and male-female differences in a large sample group using three-dimensional multi-detector computed tomography angiography (MDCTA) images.

METHODS

This study was performed in a retrospective manner using radio-anatomical planes and included 500 MDCTA images with an equal gender distribution.

RESULTS

The most common CA, SMA, IMA, and AB vertebral positions were determined as T12-L1 disc, L1-middle, L3-middle, and L4-lower in females and males, respectively. The median values of CA-SMA, CA-IMA, CA-AB, SMA-IMA, SMA-AB, and IMA-AB distances were obtained as 1.55, 1.65, 8.62, 9.07, 12.09, 13.01, 7.04, 7.32; 10.47, 11.20; 3.48, 3.84 cm in females and males, respectively. The difference between females and males was statistically significant in each measurement (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Arteries were positioned closer to each other in females than in males. When radio navigators are unavailable, the positions of IMA and AB can be used by both genders to detect CA and SMA. We believe that this MDCTA-based study, conducted in a relatively large clinical imaging cohort, may provide descriptive anatomical reference data that could contribute to the understanding of vascular relationships in radiological and surgical contexts.