Study on Aberrant Renal Arteries in South Indian Population

Variations in the number of renal arteries and their positions with respect to the renal veins are common. The aberrant renal arteries are common in 30 % of the individuals, usually arising from the aorta above or below the main renal artery and following it to the renal hilum. The aberrant renal arteries are more common on the left side than on the right one. Studies on cadavers have shown that there is more than one renal artery in 15 % and 20 % of the cases on the right and left sides respectively. The aberrant vessels are more common in the ectopic kidneys; the unilateral examples are three times more common than the bilateral and more often in female than in the males. Total 100 adult human kidneys were studied. The accessory renal artery was described for the first time, by Eustachius [1] in 1552, and later by Macalister [2] (1882) and Kater [3] (1901). The incidence of the same was first mentioned in 1892 by Thane [4]. The accessory or aberrant renal arteries have been of interest to the clinicians for many years, mainly because of the possible part that the vessel may play in the causation of the hydronephrosis.