• Ken Hayasaka, Hajime Ishida, Ryosuke Kimura, and Tadashi Nishimaki.
• Department of Digestive and General Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, 207 Uehara, Nishihara-cho, Okinawa, 903-0215, Japan. kenh@xa3.so-net.ne.jp.
• Surg. Today. 2017 Jul 1; 47 (7): 883-890.

PurposeTo reveal the patterns of the mediastinal course of the bronchial arteries (BAs).MethodsThe BAs were dissected to determine the positional relationships of their mediastinal courses with the tracheobronchus and the esophagus in 72 adult cadavers.ResultsThe mediastinal courses of the 227 BAs found in this study were classified into 4 types. There were 61 and 163 BAs passing the right side (Type I) and the left side (Type II reaching dorsal surface (n = 98), or Type III reaching ventral surface (n = 65) of the tracheobronchus) of the esophagus, respectively. Three BAs originated from the subclavian artery (Type IV). All Type I BAs were right BAs, whereas 91.8% of the Type II BAs were left BAs. However, 43.1 and 56.9% of the Type III BAs were the right and left BAs, respectively.ConclusionThe classification of the mediastinal course of the BAs determined by the spatial relationships to the tracheobronchus and the esophagus may be clinically useful, because each category of this classification can be determined during esophagectomy and indicates whether the BA is a right or left BA.

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