Celiac artery at a glance
- What it is
- The celiac artery (celiac trunk) is the first major unpaired branch of the abdominal aorta and supplies the foregut.
- Location
- It arises just below the aortic hiatus at about T12, passes forward for 1 to 2 cm and divides into the left gastric, splenic and common hepatic arteries.
- Function
- It supplies the lower esophagus, stomach, upper duodenum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas and spleen.
- Body system
- Cardiovascular · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA50737 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It is the artery of the embryonic foregut.
- Its three branches supply the organs of the foregut; their anastomoses with the superior mesenteric artery run through the pancreaticoduodenal arcades.
Clinical relevance
The median arcuate ligament can compress it, causing abdominal pain after eating.
Structures next to the celiac artery
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Celiac trunk · cardiovascular
- Diaphragm · muscular
- Inferior vena cava · cardiovascular
- Common hepatic artery · cardiovascular
- Hepatic portal vein · cardiovascular
- Pre-hepatic portal vein · cardiovascular
- Trunk of gastroduodenal artery · cardiovascular
- Cystic duct · digestive
- Hepatic artery proper · cardiovascular
- Common hepatic duct · digestive
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Celiac artery (FMA50737). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.