Systematic review

Renal artery variations: a 20.782 kidneys review

Ferdinando Paternostroverified— Università degli Studi di Firenze

Published on 9 August 2026Version 1

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Abstract

Introduction: vascular anatomy variations are important in academic, clinical and surgical areas as well as nephrology, urology, oncological and vascular surgery, among others. The main objective of this review is to know the real prevalence of multiple renal arteries in a wide, multiethnic population. Secondary objectives are to establish the prevalence of early branching of the renal artery and the prevalence of these variations in left and right kidneys. Methods: this study analyzes the renal arterial anatomy of 20.782 kidneys from 64 anatomical and radiological studies. Results: Multiple renal arteries (MRA) were present in 19,95% of the total kidneys, in number of 2 to 6 arteries arriving to the hilum. The most frequent number of MRA was 2 renal arteries (89,48%), followed by 3 (9,31%), 4 (1,06%), 5 (0,02%) and 6 (0,005%). This last one being found in only one kidney. Reported data on the lateralization of the MRA are rather poor, and among these no side's predilection was found: MRA were found in 49,83% on the right side and 50,17% of left kidneys. Early branching patterns were described in only one third of the published data, being present in 11,4% of the total kidneys from those data (corresponding in 4,23% of right kidney cases and in 4,52% of left kidney cases; 2,66% had no right/left information).

Original publication

This entry carries the summary of the work. The full text, with methods, results and figures, is at the publisher.

Recto C, Pilia AM, Campi R, Branca JJV, Pacini A, Paternostro F. Renal artery variations: a 20.782 kidneys review. Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology 2019;124(2):153–163. doi:10.13128/ijae-10776

https://doi.org/10.13128/ijae-10776

Anatomical classification

Systems:: Cardiovascular system

Content provenance

Translation

Italian translation of «Renal artery variations: a 20.782 kidneys review» by Recto C, Pilia AM, Campi R, Branca JJV, Pacini A, Paternostro F. Source: https://doi.org/10.13128/ijae-10776 Original work distributed under the CC BY 4.0 licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.it). Translation by Redazione AIVA. Changes from the original: Sintesi del lavoro originale: abstract riprodotto integralmente come consentito dalla licenza CC BY 4.0, con traduzione italiana a fronte, citazione completa e rimando al testo integrale presso l’editore. Il testo completo non è riprodotto. This publication is not approved or endorsed by the authors of the original work.

Licence

This content is distributed under the licence CC BY 4.0. Licences and attribution