Abstract

Background: Vertebral artery is the first branch of subclavian artery .It is an important source of blood supply to the brain. Accurate knowledge of normal and variant arterial anatomy of vertebral artery is important for clinical procedures and vascular radiology as its injury may occur at the time of cervical fracture or dislocation. The present study was done to study variant origins of vertebral artery.

Aims & Objective: To study the variant origins of vertebral artery.

Materials and Methods: The present study was done on thirty human cadavers to know the variant origin of vertebral arteries by Dissection method.

Results: In the present study, variant origin of Left Vertebral Artery (LVA) was found in one male (3.33%) cadaver out of 30 cadavers. There was aortic origin of Left Vertebral Artery (LVA) instead of left subclavian artery.

Conclusion: An understanding of anomalous origin of vertebral artery is very much important while performing diagnostic and interventional angiography & clinical improvements before vascular surgeries of supraaortic arteries.

Key words: Vertebral Artery; Subclavian Artery; Arch of Aorta; Cervical Vertebra; Variant Origins