DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i03.108

Pages: 1567-1569

Nephrectomies as well as renal transplantation are routinely performed in the current scenario due to high prevalence of end-stage renal disease and an increase in incidence of kidney cancers. A thorough knowledge of the arterial supply of kidney is imperative for the urologists and the general surgeons. We report a case of an aberrant artery arising from paranephric fat vasculature in a 55 year old male during routine educational cadaveric dissection, which was explored further by piecemeal removal of the kidney tissue and was seen to anastomose with interlobular artery, which is a rare finding and has not been reported in the existing literature. An aberrant artery, 5cm in length and 2 mm in diameter, arising from one of the lumbar arteries lying in the paranephric fat of left side was observed which ascended 1cm lateral to the kidney for 3cm and eventually perforated the substance of the left kidney, 5.5cm below the upper pole of the kidney at its lateral border. It was seen anastomosing with interlobular artery from the superior segment of the kidney. Awareness of such aberrant arterial anastomoses is clinically important for surgical interventions such as nephrectomy, nephro-ureterectomy and renal transplantation in order to prevent inadvertent damage to them during surgery. These also act as a source of collateral circulation in conditions leading to compromised vascular supply of kidney.