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Splenic artery: anatomy, location and function

The largest branch of the celiac trunk, running to the spleen. It supplies the spleen, pancreas and part of the stomach.

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Structures

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Highlighted in the model: Splenic 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.

Splenic artery at a glance

What it is
The largest branch of the celiac trunk, running to the spleen.
Location
It arises from the celiac trunk, runs along the upper border of the pancreas and divides at the splenic hilum; it gives pancreatic, short gastric and left gastro-omental arteries.
Function
It supplies the spleen, pancreas and part of the stomach.
Body system
Cardiovascular · single, midline structure
FMA ID
FMA14773 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is often tortuous.
  • It gives the short gastric arteries to the fundus and the left gastro-omental artery to the greater curvature.

Clinical relevance

Splenic artery aneurysms may rupture.

Structures next to the splenic artery

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Splenic artery (FMA14773). 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.

Related anatomy

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