310 



GASTRIC AND HEPATIC ARTERIES. 



Fig. 152.' 



The CCELIAC AXIS (xoXia, ventriculus) is the first single trunk given off 

 from the abdominal aorta. It arises opposite the upper border of the first 



lumbar vertebra, is about half an 

 inch in length, and divides into 

 three large branches, gastric, he- 

 patic, and splenic. 



Relations. The trunk of the. 

 coeliac axis has in relation with it, 

 in front, the lesser omentum ; on 

 the right side the right semilunar 

 ganglion and lobus Spigelii of the 

 liver; on the left side the left 

 semilunar ganglion and cardiac 

 portion of the stomach ; and below, 

 the upper border of the pancreas 

 and lesser curve of the stomach. 

 It is completely surrounded by the 

 solar plexus. 



The GASTBIC ARTERY (coronaria 

 ventriculi), the smallest of the three 

 branches of the cceliac axis, ascends 

 between the two layers of the lesser 

 omentum to the cardiac orifice of 

 the stomach, then runs along the 

 lesser curvature to the pylorus, 

 and inosculates with the pyloric 

 branch of the hepatic. It is dis- 

 tributed to the lower extremity of 

 the oesophagus and lesser curve of 

 the stomach, and anastomoses with 

 the cesophageal arteries and vasa brevia of the splenic artery. 



The HEPATIC ARTERY curves forwards, and ascends along the right 

 border of the lesser omentum to the liver, where it divides into two 

 branches (right and left), which enter the transverse fissure, and are dis- 

 tributed along the portal canals to the right and left lobes, f It is in rela- 

 tion, in the right border of the lesser omentum, with the ductus communis 

 choledochus and portal vein, and is surrounded by the hepatic plexus of 

 nerves and numerous lymphatics. There are sometimes two hepatic 

 arteries, in which case one is derived from the superior mesenteric 

 artery. 



* The abdominal aorta with its branches. 1. The phrenic arteries. 2. The cceliac 

 axis. 3. The gastric artery. 4. The hepatic artery, dividing into the right and left 

 hepatic branches. 5. The splenic artery, passing outwards to the spleen. 6. The 

 supra-renal artery of the right side. 7. The right renal artery, which is longer than the 

 left, passing outwards to the right kidney. 8. The lumbar arteries. 9. The superior 

 mesenteric artery. 10. The two spermatic arteries. 11. The inferior mesenteric artery 

 12. The sacra media. 13. The common iliacs. 14. The internal iliac of the right side. 

 15. The external iliac artery. 16. The epigastric artery. 17. The circumflexa ilii 

 artery. 18. The femoral artery. 



} For the mode of distribution of the hepatic artery within the liver, see the "Minute 

 Anatomy" of that organ in the Chapter on the Viscera. 



