Morphological Evaluation of the Splenic Artery, Its Anatomical Variations and Irrigation Territory

Background: Precise knowledge of the topographic features of the splenic artery and its branches in the hilum region is of practical interest due to the various interventions on the vessels of the spleen.

Materials and methods: The anatomy of the spleen was studied by means of macroscopic dissection on 330 organ complexes, which were carefully documented and analyzed statistically.

Results: The analysis of the splenic artery trajectory led to identification of four types: straight (43.03%), sinusoidal (27.58%), serpentine (20.91%) and alternating (8.48%). To assess the relation between the trajectory of the splenic artery and its branches we performed a chi square test. Sinuous or serpentine trajectory was associated with the presence of long splenic artery branches (dorsal pancreatic artery or the great pancreatic artery), X2 (2, N = 330) = 12.85, p = 0.001. The artery was located suprapancreatic in 70.30% of cases, anteropancreatic in 4.55%, the vessel had an intrapancreatic course in 14.85% and in 10.00% of cases the artery was located retropancreatic. The presence of inferior polar arteries was associated with a longer pancreas (Spearman's correlation; r = 0.37; p = 0.037). In a multiple regression analysis, inferior polar arteries predicted the length of the pancreas although only a small number of cases could be explained by this model (R2 = 0.127, Adjusted R2 = 0.098; Betta = 0.357; t(330) = 2.091; p = 0.045). There were 30 (9.09%) cases of accessory spleens.

Conclusions: The arterial supply of the spleen is highly variable in its trajectory, terminal branches, and relation to other organs. The splenic artery tends to be sinuous or serpentine in zones when a large artery branches off (e.g., the dorsal pancreatic or greater pancreatic artery). Multiple short branches tend to stabilize the trajectory of the splenic artery. Inferior polar arteries and accessory spleens contribute to the length of the pancreas, most likely due to increased vascular supply to the tail of the gland.