International Journal of Anatomical Sciences 2012, 3(1): 17-18

Case Report

 Anomalous Origin of Testicular Artery-A Case Report

Swayam Jothi Dorairaj S, Jacintha Antony, Rajeswara Rao N, Sree Lekha D.

Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Ammapettai, Nellikuppam 603 108, Tamil Nadu, India

 Key Words: anomalous testicular artery, abnormal origin of testicular artery

 Case Report:  In one male cadaver while doing the routine dissection the following anomalies were found. On the left side the testicular artery (Fig.1) was arising from the abdominal aorta above the left renal artery and was crossing obliquely in front of the left kidney. When traced further it was running behind left colic artery, descending colon and then continued its course downwards retropertoneally and then along the inner surface of the anterior abdominal wall to enter the ingunal canal through the deep inguinal ring to form one of the contents of spermatic cord. The left testicular vein drained into the left renal vein.

On the right side the testicular artery (Fig.2) was arising from the right renal artery and was having the usual course and the right testicular vein drained into inferior vena cava. According to Shinohara et al., (1990) the left testicular artery originated from the aorta 1cm above the origin of the left inferior phrenic artery. Lechter et al., (1999) dissected 100 cadavers (88 male, 12 female). They produced a beautiful and complete report on the anatomy of the gonadal veins for both series, finding a 20% rate of variance from the typical pattern. Knowledge about this abnormal course of the testicular arteries will be of use to surgeon to avoid injury during renal surgeries and while attending to any of the emergency operations like torsion of testicular artery