Research Article Supernumerary Renal Arteries and Their Embryological and Clinical Correlation: A Cadaveric Study from North India

Copyright © 2013 Virendra Budhiraja et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Classically, each kidney is supplied by a single renal artery originating from abdominal aorta.The present study aimed at its variations and their embryological and clinical correlation. Material and Methods. The formalin-fixed thirty-seven cadavers fromnorth India constituted thematerial for the study.During routine abdominal dissection conducted formedical undergraduates at the department of anatomy, the kidneys along with their arteries were explored and themorphological variations of renal arteries were noted. Results. We observed supernumerary renal arteries in 23/37 (62.2%) cases (48.6 % of aortic origin and 13.5 % of renal origin) on the right side and 21/37 (56.8%) cases (45.9 % of aortic origin and 10.8 % of renal origin) on the left side. Supernumerary renal arteries entered the kidney through hilum, superior pole, and inferior pole.Conclusion. Awareness of variations of renal artery is necessary for surgical management during renal transplantation, repair of abdominal aorta aneurysm, and urological procedures and for angiographic interventions. 1