Common hepatic artery
Branch
Runs right along the upper border of the pancreas to the free edge of the lesser omentum. After giving off the gastroduodenal artery (behind the first part of the duodenum) it continues as the proper hepatic artery, lying anterior to the portal vein and left of the bile duct, and divides into right and left hepatic arteries; the cystic artery usually leaves the right hepatic in Calot's triangle.
Traced from the start
- Abdominal aorta
- Coeliac trunk
- Common hepatic artery
Detail
- Branches
- Gastroduodenal (→ right gastro-omental, superior pancreaticoduodenal), right gastric, proper hepatic (→ right and left hepatic, cystic)
- Supplies
- Liver, biliary tree, gallbladder, pylorus, D1–D2, head of pancreas, greater curvature (right gastro-omental)
- Portal triad position
- Artery anterior-left, bile duct anterior-right, portal vein posterior in the free edge of the lesser omentum
When it goes wrong
Posterior duodenal bulb ulcer erodes the gastroduodenal artery running behind D1
Torrential haematemesis and melaena — the commonest life-threatening peptic ulcer bleed; endoscopic clipping, GDA embolisation, or under-running through a duodenotomy
Hepatic artery thrombosis after liver transplantation, or inadvertent ligation
Bile ducts depend on the artery alone, so ischaemic biliary strictures, bilomas and graft failure follow while hepatocytes survive on portal blood
Bleeding cystic artery clipped blindly in Calot's triangle during cholecystectomy
Right hepatic artery injury (it may loop into the triangle as a 'caterpillar hump'), plus risk to the common hepatic duct
Practise this structure
1 question in the bank tagged Arterial Supply.