THE ABDOMINAL AORTA 



661 



Relations. It is covered by the lesser omentum. On the right side it is in relation with 

 the right semilunar ganglion and the Spigelian lobe of the liver; on the left side, with the left 

 serailunar ganglion and cardiac end of the stomach. Below, it rests upon the upper border of 

 the pancreas. 



Cystic artery 



a't Q m/fe n t 



FIG. 468. The coeliac axis and its branches, the liver having been raised and the lesser omentum removed. 



The gastric or coronary artery (a. gastrica sinistra) (Figs. 468 and 469), the small- 

 est of the three branches of the coeliac axis, passes upward and to the left side, 

 behind the peritoneum of the lesser peritoneal cavity. It continues this course 

 until it nearly reaches the lesser curvature of the stomach just below the cardia. 

 It then turns to the front and curves forward, distributing branches to the oesoph- 

 agus which anastomose with the aortic cesophageal arteries; others supply the 

 cardiac end of the stomach, anastomosing with branches of the splenic artery; 

 it then passes from left to right, along and upon the lesser curvature of the 

 stomach and beneath the peritoneum to the pylorus, lying in its course between 

 the layers of the lesser omentum, and sometimes dividing into two vessels, which 

 run along each side of the lesser curvature. One vascular arch gives branches to 

 the antero-superior wall of the stomach and the other to the postero-inferior wall; 

 at its termination it anastomoses with the pyloric branches of the hepatic. The 

 oesophageal branches (rami oesophagei] anastomose with the oesophageal branches 

 from the thoracic aorta and the inferior phrenic. Occasionally the gastric artery 

 gives off an hepatic branch of variable size, which is usually distributed to the left 

 lobe of the liver. 



The hepatic artery (a. hepatica) (Figs. 468 and 469) in the adult is intermediate 

 in size between the gastric and splenic; in the fetus it is the largest of the three 



