Radiological anatomical study of the origin of the uterine artery

Abstract

The uterine artery arose from a common trunk with the umbilical artery in the majority of the Caucasian population. Surgeons and radiologists should be aware of this mode of branching to facilitate surgery and interventional radiology and improve the safety of these procedures.

Anatomic variations of the Uterine Artery. Review of the literature and their clinical significance

“…Four studies were cadaveric (13,(15)(16)(17) and five studies were radiological, four of which used computed tomography (CT) angiography with 3D reconstruction (14,(18)(19)(20) and the fifth one included an evaluation of angiographies during uterine fibroid embolization (21) . One study uses surgical evaluation (22) and one study combines all methods (23) . The combined results on the origin of uterine artery in our review are described in Table 1.…”

“…In 25.6% (22/86) of cases, it was a branch of the internal iliac artery, in 9.3% (8/86) a branch of the superior gluteal artery, and in 2.3% (2/86) of cases a branch of the internal pudendal. Chantalat et al (23) also described the origin of the uterine artery via a common trunk with the umbilical artery in the majority of the cases in cadaveric, surgical, and radiologic groups. In the cadaveric group, 50 out of 60 (83.3%) uterine arteries emerged via a common trunk with the umbilical, six (10%) as a separate branch of the internal iliac, and four (6.7%) as a branch of the internal pudendal artery.…”

“…Gomez-Jorge et al (21) 2003 Arteriograms (UFE) 257 38% of 514 43% -6% - 10 Roberts et al (17) 1966 Cadaveric 167 44 56.2% (27) ---11 Lipshutz (13) 1918 Cadaveric 93 67 89.5% (60) --- (14) 64.3% (144) ----2 Kozlov et al (15) 1.6%* 27% and 1.8%* -3% and 1.4%* 2% 1.6%* 3 Arfi et al (18) -62.4% (54)* ---2.3% (2) 4 Albulescu et al (19) 24% ---- 5 Chantalat et al (23) Obimbo et al (16) 10.3% (11) ---- 7 Naguib et al (20) -…”

Angiographic evaluation of the internal iliac artery branch in pelvic tumour patients: Diagnostic performance of multislice computed tomography angiography

“…With the widespread use of interventional embolization in the treatment of pelvic neoplasms, it is necessary for physicians to investigate the IIA and its pattern of division and branching to ensure any interventional procedure is secure and to avoid untargeted embolization. Nevertheless, due to numerous variations that exist in the anatomy of the IIA, for which there are also significant differences between sex and ethnic groups, there are no unified IIA classification criteria at present, although a number of studies have been performed on the classification of the IIA (4–7). The earliest systematic classification and description of the IIA was provided in 1928 by the Japanese scholar Adachi (8).…”

Anatomic vascular considerations in uterine artery ligation at its origin during laparoscopic hysterectomies

“…1,2 However, evidence from UA embolization as well as anatomic dissections demonstrates that the origin of the UA may vary in up to one out of five cases. 1 Alternative branching patterns have been described with the UA arising directly from the internal iliac (IIA), superior gluteal, internal pudendal, or obturator artery 1,3-6 ( Figure 1). One particular variation, which may complicate the vascular network encountered at the UA origin, is a C-shaped configuration in which one UA arises from the anterior division in the traditional fashion while a second UA branch originates directly from the IIA.…”