A rare cadaveric case of a duplicated internal thoracic artery

The internal thoracic artery (ITA) arises from the subclavian artery and terminates as the musculophrenic and inferior epigastric arteries. During routine cadaveric dissection, an aberrant left ITA was discovered. A medial and a lateral branch of the ITA branched directly off the subclavian artery as opposed to bifurcating at the 6th or 7th intercostal space. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of this particular ITA variation arising from the third part of the subclavian artery. Additionally, such a variant might also be considered a high bifurcation of the ITA. Our report examines this variation and its potential implications for coronary artery bypass grafts where the ITA is commonly used.