Anatomic rationale for arterial bleeding from the liver bed during and/or after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a postmortem study.

The aim of this study was to establish an anatomic rationale for liver bed arterial bleeding during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Fifty consecutive human cadavers were dissected. A corrosion cast method was used. Six anastomotic branches (12%) of the cystic artery to the right or left hepatic artery ran underneath the gallbladder serosa surface and entered liver parenchyma after crossing the medial or lateral edge of the liver fossa without passing through the areolar tissue of the liver bed. Their mean length was 18.3 mm (range 4-60), and the mean diameter was 0.38 mm (range 0.2-0.8). Two cystic arteries that ascended in the midline between the gallbladder and liver bed were identified in 50 (4%) casts. Their lengths were 16 and 18 mm, and their diameters were 1.9 and 2.2 mm. Five and seven branches encircling the gallbladder arose radially. These two arterial branching patterns can cause arterial bleeding from the liver bed during and/or after laparoscopic cholecystectomy.