The incidence of Aberrant Obturator artery in South Indian population - a cadaveric study

The obturator artery arises as a single branch from the anterior division of the internal iliac artery. In a variation, called as the aberrant obturator artery (AOA), it arises from the inferior epigastric artery. This study was done to look into the incidence of the aberrant obturator artery in South Indian population by cadaveric dissection. 40 pelvic halves were meticulously dissected to trace the obturator artery to its source. The incidence of aberrant obturator artery in this study was 12 percentage. In addition to that higher incidence (25 percentage) of dual origin of obturator artery from both the internal iliac and inferior epigastric artery was observed. The aberrant obturator artery, a component of corona mortis, is at high risk of injury during femoral hernia repair, laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair or complicated deliveries. Therefore the knowledge of variation in the origin of obturator artery is important while doing pelvic and groin operations.