Study of the Polar Arteries Supplying the Spleen and Their Significance in Its Viability

Background: To study the blood supply of the spleenand its segmental distribution, with a particular interest onthe presence and adequacy of collateral vessels supplyingthe spleen.Methods: The study was performed at the Departmentof Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdul-AzizUniversity, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during the years 2004-2007. In this study, the blood supply of the spleen wasstudied in 15 human stillbirths and 10 adult cadavers ofdifferent ages and sexes. The study involved dissection,radiological and injection-corrosion techniques. Inaddition, an experimental study was carried out on twelvealbino rats which were divided into 3 groups. In thefirst group, the splenic artery was ligated. In the secondgroup, the terminal splenic branches were ligated and thethird group was left as a control. Two weeks after ligation,the spleens from different rats were removed andexamined.Results: In the human specimens, the results showedthat the medial end of spleen was found to receive one ormore polar arteries arising from the following sources; theupper short gastric artery (40%), both upper short gastricartery and arterial network at the stomach fundus (48%),the phrenic artery (8%) or from the aorta (4%). The lateralend of spleen was also found to receive lateral polar arterywhich arose in all cases from the left gastroepiploic artery.Regarding the rats, the results showed that in the firstgroup, the spleen looked normal except in one case wherean infarction was produced. In the second group, thespleen remained normal and functioning as evidenced bythe maintained phagocytic activity to India ink.Conclusions: It was concluded that the spleen issupplied by polar arteries in addition to the terminalsplenic branches and that arteries can maintain viable andfunctioning spleen even after ligation of the splenic arteryor its terminal branche