Topography of haemorrhoidal arteries Table 1 Distribution of detectable haemorrhoidal arteries in relation to rectal sectors and wall layers No. of rectal sectors Distance from anorectal junction Haemorrhoidal artery location Perirectal fat Perirectal fat–rectal muscle Rectal muscle Rectal muscle–submucosa Submucosa 6 cm 189 (97·9) 0 (0) 4 (2·1) 0 (0) 0 (0) 5 cm 180 (90·9) 5 (2·5) 9 (4·5) 3 (1·5) 1 (0·5) 5 cm 0 (0) 49 (98) 50 (100) 49 (98) 50 (100) 0 (0) 5 cm 6·6(1·4) 5 cm — 6·1(1·4) 7·0(1·4) 6·7(1·5) 6·7(1·3) — 0·022 4 cm 84 (42·4) 48 (24·2) 34 (17·2) 27 (13·6) 5 (2·5) 4 cm 0 (0) 49 (98) 50 (100) 49 (98) 50 (100) 0 (0) 4 cm 5·1(1·2) 4 cm — 4·6(0·9) 5·3(1·3) 5·2(1·2) 5·2(1·2) — 0·020 3 cm 8 (2·7) 9 (3·1) 23 (7·8) 57 (19·3) 198 (67·1) 2 cm 0 (0) 0 (0) 5 (1·7) 5 (1·7) 288 (96·6) 1 cm 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 299 (100) 3 cm 47 (94) 50 (100) 50 (100) 49 (98) 50 (100) 49 (98) 2 cm 50 (100) 50 (100) 50 (100) 49 (98) 50 (100) 49 (98) 115 P* < 0·001 < 0·001 < 0·001 < 0·001 < 0·001 1 cm 50 (100) 50 (100) 50 (100) 49 (98) 50 (100) 50 (100) P* < 0·001 P* < 0·001 < 0·001 < 0·001 < 0·001 < 0·001 < 0·001 — Distance from anorectal junction 3 cm 3·3(0·9) 2 cm 2·4(0·6) 1 cm 1·9(0·4) Arterial depth (mm) Distance from anorectal junction 3 cm 2·6(0·7) 3·4(0·7) 3·5(0·9) 3·6(0·8) 3·6(1·0) 2·9(0·8) < 0.001 2 cm 2·2(0·6) 2·4(0·6) 2·4(0·6) 2·5(0·5) 2·6(0·8) 2·2(0·5) 0·005 1 cm 1·9(0·5) 1·9(0·4) 1·9(0·4) 2·0(0·4) 1·9(0·4) 1·8(0·4) 0·865 Rectal sector Left anterolateral Left lateral Left posterolateral Right posterolateral Right lateral Right anterolateral Arterial depth (mm) Rectal sector Left anterolateral Left lateral Left posterolateral Right posterolateral Right lateral Right anterolateral P* 6 cm 0 (0) 47 (94) 49 (98) 48 (96) 49 (98) 0 (0) 6 cm 8·3(1·5) 6 cm — 8·0(1·7) 8·5(1·4) 8·3(1·5) 8·3(1·5) — 0·674 Values in parentheses are percentages. *One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni tests. Table 2 Rectal sectors with detectable haemorrhoidal arteries in relation to distance from anorectal junction Distance from anorectal junction Values in parentheses are percentages. Table 3 Arterial depth in relation to level of rectal circumference Values are mean(s.d.). *One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni tests. Table 4 Arterial depth in relation to level of rectal circumference and sector Values are mean(s.d.). *One-way ANOVA and Bonferroni tests. ARJ), haemorrhoidal arteries were identiﬁed in nearly all circumferential sectors (Table 2). The mean haemorrhoidal arterial depth was signiﬁcantly lower in more distal sectors than in more proximal sectors; a statistical comparison between each level showed all differences to be signiﬁcant (P < 0·001) (Table 3). This was a consistent ﬁnding in each rectal sector (Table 4). When mean arterial depths at each rectal level were compared, the differences between sectors  2011 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd www.bjs.co.uk British Journal of Surgery 2012; 99: 112 – 118