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Stomach and abdominal oesophagus

Organ supplied · Foregut T5–T9

Foregut organ fed by all three coeliac branches through two anastomosing arcades: left and right gastric along the lesser curve, left and right gastro-omental along the greater curve, with short gastrics to the fundus and oesophageal branches of the left gastric to the abdominal oesophagus.

Traced from the start

  1. Abdominal aorta
  2. Coeliac trunk
  3. Left gastric arterySplenic arteryCommon hepatic artery
  4. Stomach and abdominal oesophagus

Detail

Lesser curvature
Left gastric (coeliac) + right gastric (hepatic)
Greater curvature
Right gastro-omental (gastroduodenal) + left gastro-omental (splenic)
Fundus
Short gastric arteries (splenic)
Referred pain
Epigastric, T5–T9 via greater splanchnic nerve

When it goes wrong

Any single gastric artery ligated

Stomach survives on the remaining arcades — it can be tubed on the right gastro-omental alone as an oesophageal conduit

Gastric visceral afferents enter the cord with the greater splanchnic nerve (T5–T9)

Peptic ulcer and gastritis present as dull, poorly localised epigastric pain without lateralisation

Practise this structure

2 questions in the bank tagged Referred Pain.

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