Classically, each kidney is thought to have a single renal artery; however,
numerous published studies describe common variations in renal vascular
anatomy in which two or more renal arteries supply a kidney
(Williams et aI., 1995; Ali~EI-Dein et aI., 2003; Bude et aI., 2003; Bordei
et aI., 2004; Khamanarong et aI., 2004). Although frequently described,
there is still controversy regarding the naming of these arteries. There were
named supplementary by Anderhuber and Weiglein (1992), multiple by
Chevrel (1994) and Khamanarong et al. (2004), accessory by Williams et
al. (1995) and Goscicka et al. (1996), additional by Satyapal et al. (2001)
and aberrant by Vilhova et al (2002). Bordei et al. (2004) named the supplementary
arteries entering the renal hilum as proper supplementary arteries
while those entering the kidney at the upper and lower polar levels were
named superior and inferior polar arteries, respectively. On the other hand,
Debatin et al. (1993) named them supernumerary renal arteries and the
hilar supernumerary arteries were classified as co-dominant if they were
similar in size to the epsilateral main renal artery.