Frequency and Clinical Review of the Aberrant Obturator Artery: A Cadaveric Study

Guinevere Granite; Keiko Meshida; Gary Wind

doi:10.3390/diagnostics10080546

Frequency and Clinical Review of the Aberrant Obturator Artery: A Cadaveric Study

Diagnostics (Basel). 2020 Jul 30;10(8):546. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics10080546.

Authors

Guinevere Granite¹, Keiko Meshida², Gary Wind¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Surgery, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA.
² Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA.

Abstract

The occurrence of an aberrant obturator artery is common in human anatomy. Detailed knowledge of this anatomical variation is important for the outcome of pelvic and groin surgeries requiring appropriate ligation. Familiarity with the occurrence of an aberrant obturator artery is equally important for instructors teaching pelvic anatomy to students. Case studies highlighting this vascular variation provide anatomical instructors and surgeons with accurate information on how to identify such variants and their prevalence. Seven out of eighteen individuals studied (38.9%) exhibited an aberrant obturator artery, with two of those individuals presenting with bilateral aberrant obturator arteries (11.1%). Six of these individuals had an aberrant obturator artery that originated from the deep inferior epigastric artery (33.3%). One individual had an aberrant obturator artery that originated directly from the external iliac artery (5.6%).

Keywords: aberrant obturator artery; anatomical variations; external iliac branching variations; internal iliac branching variations.

Publication types

Case Reports