Variations in the branching pattern of the canine coeliac trunk in Thailand: an anatomical study

Although the major dog population in Thailand is the Thai native dog, its anatomy has rarely been studied. This study aimed to investigate anatomical variations of the canine coeliac trunk (CT) in Thailand by observing 62 cadavers including 46 Thai native dogs and 16 non-Thai native dogs. All cadavers were preserved in formalin solution, and the arteries were illustrated by injection of red coloured latex. Variations of CT were initially classified into 2 main types and 7 subtypes (type 1a-e and 2a-b) based on the previous reports. Type 1 was described as CT separated from the cranial mesenteric artery (CMA) while type 2, CT fused with CMA and called the coeliacomesenteric trunk (CMT). In this study, only 5 of 7 patterns were found (1a-c and 2a), but a new variation was identified as type 2c. The common patterns were type 1a (CT bifurcated into the gastrosplenic and hepatic arteries; 53.2%) and type 1b (CT trifurcated into the hepatic, left gastric and splenic arteries; 40.3%). The CMT was observed only at 3.2% while two types (1d-e) were not observed in this study. The male and female were different in the most common patterns (1b and 1a, respectively). Thai native dogs showed similar result to all dog results. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study concerning anatomical variations of the canine coeliac trunk of dogs in Thailand. This study is useful for facilitating imaging diagnosis and surgical treatment and also provides important knowledge for understanding the pathogenesis of the coeliac trunk related diseases.