OBJECTIVETo study the principle and surgical managements for the patients with anatomic variants of hepatic artery in the procedure of pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD).

METHODSOne hundred and seventy-six patients who underwent PD between January 2000 and July 2007 were investigated retrospectively. Hepatic arterial variants were analyzed according to the intraoperative finding and CT imaging were reviewed postoperatively.

RESULTSHepatic arterial variants were found intraoperatively in 20 cases of all 176 patients. Accessory right heptic artery, replaced right heptic artery and common heptic artery arising from the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) were present in 9 (5.1%), 5 (2.8%), 4 (2.3%) cases respectively,and replaced right heptic artery coming from the gastroduodenal artery was present in 2 cases (2.9%). All the variants of hepatic arteries arising from the superior mesenteric artery could be observed in spiral CT imaging. Most of the variant arteries were dissected intact intraoperatively except 2 cases with accessory right heptic artery arising from SMA.

CONCLUSIONSPerforming CT scan preoperatively, especially CTA,is effective to diagnose these disorders. Skillful surgical techniques can manage the anatomic variants safely.