Analysis of surgical errors associated with anatomical variations clinically relevant in general surgery. Review of the literature

Anatomic variations have a significant impact in general and oncological surgery, often necessitating modification of surgical techniques or leading to intraoperative complications. Difficult or variant anatomy is often cited as a significant contributing factor to injuries attributed to surgical errors. In order to investigate the influence of anatomical variations on surgical procedures, a literature search was conducted based on key words and potentially eligible articles were assessed for relevance and quality of data. In this review, we attempt to highlight some major and clinically significant abnormal anatomy that can influence the outcome of a surgical procedure, including cholecystectomy, hepatobiliary, breast and axillary, pancreatic, spleen, gastric, colon, and thyroid surgery, as well as hernia repair. •Anatomic variations have a significant impact in general surgery.•Knowledge on anatomical variations relevant to clinical practice is not discussed in anatomy courses.•Failure to identify variant anatomy is a commonly cited technical error in surgical injuries.•Anatomic variations have a emphatic impact on surgery Failure to identify variant anatomy is a commonly cited technical error.