High origin and unusual suprarenal branch of a testicular artery.

In a 42 year-old male cadaver, the left testicular artery was found to originate from the anterior surface of the abdominal aorta at the level of origin of the left renal artery. It ran parallel and just inferior to the left renal artery and gave off a branch which supplied the left suprarenal gland. The course, relations and branching of this suprarenal branch differed from the very rare cases found in the literature. Awareness of the possible existence of such variations of the testicular arteries is of great importance during surgical procedures.