TY - JOUR AB - Lymph node metastasis from gallbladder cancer is often found in the pericholedochal area; however, these regional lymph nodes are not typically accompanied by arteries. We hypothesized that the artery accompanying pericholedochal lymph nodes was either the regressed embryonic right hepatic artery (eRHA) or an aberrant right hepatic artery (aRHA) remaining without regression. This study aimed to determine the artery supplying pericholedochal lymph nodes. We obtained serial tissue sections of resected specimens from 10 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy with combined resection of the superior mesenteric artery and vein and investigated the association between the distribution of enlarged lymph nodes and the course of blood vessels in each section. In 2 cases with aRHA, enlarged lymph nodes were distributed in the posterosuperior area, pancreaticoduodenal region and retroportal area along this artery. By contrast, no blood vessels accompanied enlarged lymph nodes in 8 patients exhibiting a normal hepatic artery branching pattern, although these nodes exhibited a distribution pattern similar to that of patients with the aRHA. Thus, the artery supplying pericholedochal lymph nodes appears to be either the regressed eRHA or an aRHA persisting without regression. AD - Division of Cancer Medicine, Department of Gastroenterologic Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine Science, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920‑0934, Japan AU - Nakagawara,Hisatoshi AU - Tajima,Hidehiro AU - Miyashita,Tomoharu AU - Kitagawa,Hirohisa AU - Makino,Isamu AU - Sakai,Seisho AU - Hayashi,Hironori AU - Nakanuma,Shinichi AU - Oyama,Katsunobu AU - Takamura,Hiroyuki AU - Fushida,Sachio AU - Fujimura,Takashi AU - Ohta,Tetsuo DA - 2014/11/01 DO - 10.3892/mco.2014.342 EP - 967 IS - 6 JO - Mol Clin Oncol KW - right hepatic artery embryonic right hepatic artery lymph node metastasis gallbladder cancer lymphadenectomy pericholedochal lymph node PY - 2014 SN - 2049-9450 2049-9469 SP - 963 ST - Lymph node spread of gallbladder cancer from the perspective of embryologically‑based anatomy and significance of the lymphatic basin along the embryonic right hepatic artery T2 - Molecular and Clinical Oncology TI - Lymph node spread of gallbladder cancer from the perspective of embryologically‑based anatomy and significance of the lymphatic basin along the embryonic right hepatic artery UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/mco.2014.342 VL - 2 ER -