Computed tomography assessment of the gastric arterial anatomy for embolisation treatment of obesity
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background:
Obesity is a global pandemic affecting more than 1 billion people worldwide and a leading cause of preventable death. Left gastric artery embolisation to inhibit ghrelin secretion, a hormonal driver of appetite, has been proposed as a potentially safer treatment for obesity than surgery. This study describes the incidence of anatomical variation, gastric artery anastomoses, collateral supply and vessel lengths, diameters and angles of origin relevant to embolisation of the LGA in the EMBIO cohort of obese patients.
Results:
Arterial phase CT scans (n = 90) were performed as part of screening for the EMBIO trial. 62 participants (69%) had conventional coeliac and hepatic artery anatomy. 14 participants (16%) had left hepatic arterial supply originating from the LGA. The most common LGA branching pattern (37%) was for the first branch to supply the cardia / gastro-oesophageal junction and then for the LGA to split into two main branches supplying the gastric fundus. 34% had a left- right gastric artery anastomosis visible on CT. The LGA was the dominant artery supplying the gastric fundus in 51% with supply from multiple arteries, most frequently the LGA and short gastric arteries (27%), seen in the other participants.
Conclusion:
This study presents detailed analysis of the arterial anatomy relevant to performing successful and safe embolisation of the LGA for treatment of obesity and acute haemorrhage.
Obesity is a global pandemic affecting more than 1 billion people worldwide and a leading cause of preventable death. Left gastric artery embolisation to inhibit ghrelin secretion, a hormonal driver of appetite, has been proposed as a potentially safer treatment for obesity than surgery. This study describes the incidence of anatomical variation, gastric artery anastomoses, collateral supply and vessel lengths, diameters and angles of origin relevant to embolisation of the LGA in the EMBIO cohort of obese patients.
Results:
Arterial phase CT scans (n = 90) were performed as part of screening for the EMBIO trial. 62 participants (69%) had conventional coeliac and hepatic artery anatomy. 14 participants (16%) had left hepatic arterial supply originating from the LGA. The most common LGA branching pattern (37%) was for the first branch to supply the cardia / gastro-oesophageal junction and then for the LGA to split into two main branches supplying the gastric fundus. 34% had a left- right gastric artery anastomosis visible on CT. The LGA was the dominant artery supplying the gastric fundus in 51% with supply from multiple arteries, most frequently the LGA and short gastric arteries (27%), seen in the other participants.
Conclusion:
This study presents detailed analysis of the arterial anatomy relevant to performing successful and safe embolisation of the LGA for treatment of obesity and acute haemorrhage.
Date Issued
2025-10-16
Date Acceptance
2025-05-13
Citation
CVIR Endovascular, 2025, 8
ISSN
2520-8934
Publisher
SpringerOpen
Journal / Book Title
CVIR Endovascular
Volume
8
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1186/s42155-025-00552-z
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 84
Date Publish Online
2025-07-30