Gastric artery at a glance
- What it is
- The gastric arteries are the arteries of the lesser curvature of the stomach.
- Location
- The left gastric artery arises from the celiac trunk, runs up to the esophagus, and then along the lesser curvature, where it meets the right gastric artery, which usually arises from the proper hepatic artery.
- Function
- They supply the lower esophagus and the lesser curvature of the stomach.
- Body system
- Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA14768 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- The left gastric artery is the smallest branch of the celiac trunk.
- The left gastric artery gives oesophageal branches that anastomose with oesophageal branches of the thoracic aorta.
Clinical relevance
A posterior gastric ulcer on the lesser curvature can erode the left gastric artery and cause major bleeding.
Structures next to the gastric artery
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Hepatic artery proper · cardiovascular
- Gastric vein · cardiovascular
- Portal vein · cardiovascular
- Hepatic portal vein · cardiovascular
- Pre-hepatic portal vein · cardiovascular
- Hepatovenous segment IV · digestive
- Cystic duct · digestive
- Stomach · digestive
- Common hepatic artery · cardiovascular
- Hepatovenous segment III · digestive
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Gastric artery (FMA14768). 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.