A rare case of the inferior mesenteric artery and some colic arteries in man.

The case in which the inferior mesenteric artery (MI) arose from superior one (MS), the common mesenteric artery (MC) of Kitamura et al. (1987), was observed in a 61-year-old female cadaver. This is the 6th report on this anomaly and the only one on the female. The MS arising normally from abdominal aorta sent the MI as the first colic artery, this condition being common in 4 among 5 cases of this anomaly. The MI, however, did not send left colic artery (CS) which arose from a common trunk with right (CD) and middle colic (CM) arteries, which pattern has not been reported. 3 cases of this anomaly may be led from either of 3 kinds of intermesenteric artery (IM) reported by Williams and Klop (1957); the actual IM, an anastomotic artery between CM and CS and the one between MS and CS. The present case is extremely rare, being a compound type led from the first 2 IMs and another case with the common trunk composed of CM and CD, the last of which is collected in Lippert and Pabst (1985). From these examination, formation of MC is discussed with special reference to the inferior pancreatico-duodenal artery.