Multiple Renal Arteries: Its Clinical Implications

Address for Correspondence: Dr. Sandeep Saluja, Maulana Azad Medical College, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi110002, India. Mobile No.: +91 8802537409 E-Mail: [email protected] The peculiarity of renal vascular variations challenges the surgeons and interventional radiologists with the task of defining the singular pattern of origin and entry of arteries into the kidney. Presence of multiple renal arteries is a perplexing predicament for the surgeon during interventional procedures as there are uncertainties about the future outcome. The present study reports a variant renal vasculature and aspires to emphasize its embryological basis and surgical implications. During routine cadaveric dissection, we observed three renal arteries arising separately from the abdominal aorta and entering the left kidney at the hilum. The inferior suprarenal artery emerged from the most superior renal artery while the inferior most renal artery crossed superficial to the ureter to enter the hilum. The persistence of mesonephric arteries is the culprit in most renal vascular variants as was seen in the present study. Morphometric analysis revealed the three arteries had similar dimensions with different angulations that suggested a possible role in segmental ischemia of the kidneys. An aberrant renal vasculature is treated with suspicion and thought to increase the complexity of anastomotic techniques. A thorough knowledge of the arterial patterns may lead to higher success rate of transplantation of kidneys with variant vasculature.