Study of prehilar branches of splenic artery by dissection method

Spleen is a large lymphoid organ which is supplied by splenic artery. It is commonly injured in blunt abdominal trauma. The treatment of splenic injury has been changed in the past 2–3 decades. Depending upon the severity of injury, either total or partial splenectomy is done. However, total splenectomy is avoided to prevent the risk of postsplenectomy sepsis or avoid the resulting decrease in immunity and hematological functions. Now a day's partial splenectomy is preferred, as it is followed by rapid regeneration of splenic tissue. During partial splenectomy, segmental branch of that affected segment is ligated. These branches show the variation as they originate from the prehilar branches of splenic artery which shows variation.

Aim of this work was to observe the prehilar branches of splenic artery and polar arteries supplying spleen.

Sixty spleens of unknown sex were studied by dissection method. All spleens were cleaned by washing them under tap water. Then, we carefully removed the unwanted tissue around the splenic artery and its branches.

Splenic artery was divided into two primary branches at hilum in 66%, in 17% into three, and in 17% into four terminal branches. Superior and inferior polar arteries were present in 41.6%, and 25% spleen respectively and both were present in 16.6%.

Precise knowledge of prehilars and polar arteries is very important because now a days, during surgery, surgeons try to remove only affected tissue. Findings reported by us will be helpful to surgeons while performing surgical procedures on spleen.