Prevalence of Renal Vascular Variations in Patients Subjected to Contrast CT Abdomen

Abstract

To determine the prevalence of renal artery and renal vein variations in the patients subjected to contrast CT abdomen and to assess the gender specific variations in renal artery and renal vein. Material and methods: The study was conducted in the department of Radiodiagnosis, SRM Medical College, Kattankulathur from March 2017 to August 2018. A total of 223 patients who were subjected to MDCT contrast abdomen study for various complaints were evaluated for the renal vascular variations. The study was done in two phases arterial and venous with field of view from the dome of diaphragm to the iliac crest. The axial images obtained were post-processed by MPR, MIP and VR techniques. Results: Renal vascular variants are highly variable as observed in the previous studies. In our study, the most common renal artery variation was accessory renal artery and most common renal vein variation was multiple renal veins. No statistically significant association between gender and Renal artery, Renal vein or main renal artery lumen size was observed. Maximum renal arteries both on right and left side were seen arising at the level of L1. Conclusions: MDCT is ideal for imaging. RA and RV variations including the number and course. Accessory renal artery is the most frequently observed variation in renal arteries and multiple renal vein is the most common variation of right renal vein. Retroaortic left renal vein was the most common variation observed on left side. Between gender and RA or RV no statistically significant association was demonstrated.