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Gastro-epiploic artery: anatomy, location and function

The gastro-epiploic arteries run along the greater curvature of the stomach. They supply the greater curvature of the stomach and the greater omentum.

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Highlighted in the model: Gastro-epiploic artery. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Gastro-epiploic artery at a glance

What it is
The gastro-epiploic arteries run along the greater curvature of the stomach.
Location
The right gastro-epiploic artery arises from the gastroduodenal artery and the left from the splenic artery. They run between the layers of the greater omentum and anastomose with each other.
Function
They supply the greater curvature of the stomach and the greater omentum.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA14796 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • The right gastro-omental artery is the larger of the two and is sometimes used as a coronary bypass graft.

Structures next to the gastro-epiploic artery

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Gastro-epiploic artery (FMA14796). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
  3. 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.

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.