Ileocolic artery at a glance
- What it is
- The ileocolic artery is the lowest branch from the right side of the superior mesenteric artery.
- Location
- It arises from the superior mesenteric artery and runs toward the right iliac fossa, dividing into superior and inferior branches. Its branches include the anterior and posterior cecal, appendicular, ileal and colic arteries.
- Function
- It supplies the terminal ileum, cecum, appendix and lower ascending colon.
- Body system
- Cardiovascular · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA14815 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It runs down and to the right in the root of the mesentery, behind the peritoneum, toward the ileocaecal junction.
Clinical relevance
It is ligated close to its origin in a right hemicolectomy for caecal cancer, to remove the lymph nodes along it.
Structures next to the ileocolic artery
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Superior mesenteric artery · cardiovascular
- Inferior mesenteric vein · cardiovascular
- Transverse mesocolon · digestive
- Superior mesenteric vein · cardiovascular
- Ileocolic vein · cardiovascular
- Inferior mesenteric artery · cardiovascular
- Taenia omentalis · digestive
- Taenia mesocolica · digestive
- Ileal artery · cardiovascular
- Marginal artery of colon · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Ileocolic artery (FMA14815). 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.
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