The angiographical basis of gastroduodenal artery reconstruction in pancreas transplantation

Objective To study the variation of the pancreatic head arteries and its value in pan- creas transplantation.Methods The DSA data of 300 cases were studied retrospectively:192 cases of celiac trunk angiography,102 cases of superior mesenteric artery angiography,and 6 cases of the com- bined.The distribution and variation of the arteries on the pancreatic head were observed.Results In the celiac angiography cases,typical gastroduodenal artery,superior pancreaticoduodenal artery and its branches were visualized in 73 cases(38%).The posterior superior panereaticoduodenal artery was not anastomosed with the posterior inferior pancraticoduodenal artery in 3 cases.The posterior pancre- aticoduodenal arcade was discontinued in 1 case.The anterior superior pancreaticoduodenal artery, posterior superior pancreaticodoodenal artery,and dorsal pancreatic artery were only distributed across the upper head of the pancreas separately but were not anastomosed each other in 1 case.The variation rate of pancreaticoduodenal arterial arcades was 6.8%(5/73).In 102 cases of the superior mesenteric artery angiography,the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery was visualized in 42 cases(41%)while its branches were not visualized.In 6 cases of the combined angiography,superior panereaticoduodenal artery was visualized in all of the cases,of which anterior and posterior arcades were visualized in 4 cases(66.7%).The gastroduodenal artery reconstruction was performed in 3 cases of clinical pancre- as transplantation,all of the receivers maintained a normal blood glucose level after transplantation and no surgical complications were found.Conclusions The superior pancreaticoduodenal artery might of- fer more blood supply than inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery in the pancreatic head.The arterial re- construction of the transplanted pancreas should include the gastroduodenal artery because of the pos- sibility of arterial variation on the pancreatic head.