An unusual renal accessory artery originating from the thoracic aorta and its potential clinical implications.

UNLABELLED We report a case of an unsual anatomical vascular blood supply to the right kidney. In an analysis of kidneys, by dissection of 39 foetuses, additional renal arteries were found in 18 cases (46.15%). In only one case (2.5%) was it noticed that the right kidney was supplied with blood by three renal arteries, one main and two additional arteries. One of the additional arteries, marked as the upper pole artery of aortic origin, separated from the thoracic aorta at the level of T11 (the eleventh thoracic rib), 1.5 cm above the truncus coeliacus. This artery, after passing through the diaphragm, entered the renal hilus at its upper part and served to vasculate that part of the kidney. CONCLUSION The importance of this study is seen in the fact that anatomic knowledge of variations in the vascularization of the kidneys is of exceptional practical importance. Also, this information may concern transplant surgeons involved in living donor nephrectomies.