Coeliac trunk
Unpaired trunk · Foregut T5–T9
First unpaired ventral branch, arising at T12/L1 just below the aortic hiatus and running only 1–2 cm before trifurcating into left gastric, splenic and common hepatic arteries. Artery of the foregut: abdominal oesophagus to the major duodenal papilla, plus liver, gallbladder, pancreas and spleen.
Traced from the start
- Abdominal aorta
- Coeliac trunk
Detail
- Level
- T12 (upper border of L1), immediately below the median arcuate ligament
- Supplies
- Foregut: oesophagus, stomach, D1–D2 to papilla, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen
- Branches
- Left gastric, splenic, common hepatic
- Referred pain
- Epigastrium, T5–T9 via greater splanchnic nerve
When it goes wrong
Median arcuate ligament of the diaphragm crosses and compresses the coeliac origin
Median arcuate ligament syndrome: thin young woman with postprandial epigastric pain 15–30 min after meals, weight loss and an epigastric bruit that varies with respiration; treated by laparoscopic release
Coeliac stenosis with a patent SMA
Foregut survives on retrograde flow through the pancreaticoduodenal arcade, which dilates and may form pancreaticoduodenal artery aneurysms
Practise this structure
1 question in the bank tagged Mesenteric Arterial Supply.