C03LIAC AXIS. 



421 



C(ELIAC AXIS * 



To expose this artery, raise the liver, draw down the stomach, and then tear through the layers 

 of the lesser omentum. 



The Coeliac Axis is a short thick trunk, about half an inch in length, arising 

 from the aorta, opposite the margin of the Diaphragm, and, passing nearly hori- 

 zontally forwards (in the erect posture), divides into three large branches, the 

 gastric, hepatic, and splenic, occasionally giving off one of the phrenic arteries. 



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

 relation with the right semilunar ganglion, and the lobus Spigelii. On the left 

 side, with the right semilunar ganglion and cardiac end of the stomach. Below, 

 it rests upon the upper border of the pancreas. 



Fig. 223. The Coeliac Axis and its Branches, the Liver having been raised, and 

 the Lesser Omentum removed. 



The O.VSTRIC ARTERY (Coronaria ventriculi), the smallest of the three brandies 

 of the ooeliac axis, passes upwards and to the left side, to the cardiac orifice of 

 the stomach, distributing branches to the oesophagus, which anastomose with the 

 aortic oesophageal arteries ; others supply the cardiac end of the stomach, inoscu- 

 lating with branches of the splenic artery ; it then passes from left to right, along 

 the lesser curvature of the stomach to the pylorus, lying in its course between 

 the layers of the lesser omentum, and giving branches to both surfaces of the 

 organ ; at its termination it anastomoses with the pyloric branch of the hepatic. 



The HEPATIC ARTERY in the adult is intermediate in size between the gastric 

 and splenic ; in the foetus, it is the largest of the three branches of the coeliac 



