SUPRADIAPHRAGMATIC ORIGIN OF RIGHT RENAL ARTERY FROM THORACIC AORTA: CASE REPORT AND LITERATURE REVIEW
Numerical anomalies of renal arteries are frequently encountered at radiological investigations. Origin of main renal artery from abdominal aorta above the level of origin of celiac trunk and supplying normally positioned kidney is encountered occasionally. But ectopic supradiaphragmatic thoracic origin of main renal artery supplying a normally positioned kidney is extremely rare and reported only as case reports and till recently only ten such cases have been reported. Incidentally all cases reporting thoracic origin are right renal arteries. The present case report is an incidental observation of origin of main right renal artery from thoracic aorta at the level of upper part of body of T-12 vertebra in a male patient undergoing contrast enhanced CT for suspected lung pathology. The normally positioned right kidney was supplied by an accessory renal artery arising just below the level of origin of superior mesenteric artery. Our literature search has yielded 23 cases (excluding the present case) out of which 19 were thoracic right renal arteries and 4 thoracic left renal arteries. Additionally the present case was associated with the presence of variations of celiac and superior mesenteric arteries in the form of gastrosplenic and hepatomesenteric trunks. This association of variant gastrosplenic and hepatomesenteric trunks with thoracic origin of main renal artery is reported for the first time. Knowledge of such rare variations is crucial for radiologists, surgeons and urologists for better outcome of surgical and interventional procedures. KEY WORDS: Thoracic renal artery, Supradiaphragmatic renal artery, Ectopic renal artery origin, Hepatomesenteric trunk, Gastrosplenic trunk.