CCELIAC 



ooo 



B. The Visceral Branches of the Abdominal Aorta 



THE CCELIAC ARTERY 



The ccEliac artery — or cceliac axis as it is commonly called, because it breaks 

 up simultaneously into three branches which radiate from it like the spokes of a 

 wheel from the axle — is a short thick trunk given off from the front of the aorta 

 l)etween the crura of the diaphragm a little below the aortic opening. It passes 

 horizontally forwards above the upper margin of the pancreas for about half an 

 inch, and then breaks up into three branches for the supply of the stomach, 

 duodenum, spleen, pancreas, liver, and gall-bladder (fig. 365). 



Relations. — In front is tlie lesser omentum; behind, the aorta; above, the 

 right lobe of the liver; belo^v, the pancreas; to the right, the right semilunar 



Fig. 365. — The Cceliac Artery axd its Branches. 



Abdominal aorta LEFT CRUS OF DIAPHRAGM 



ISOPHAGEAL BRANCH 



RIGHT CRUS OF DIAPHRAGM 



Celiac nxis 



Gastric Vasa 



artery brevia 



Cystic artery 



Right phrenic artery 



HEPATIC DUCT 



CYSTIC DUCT 



Splenic artery 



COMMON BILE DUCT 



Pyloric artery 



Gustro-duodenal artery 



Superior pancreaticfi- 

 (luodenal artery 

 HEAD OF PANCREAS 



Inferior pancreatico- 

 duodenal artery 

 Right gastro-epiploic 

 artery 



Left gastro-epiploic artery 



ganglion and lobulus Spigelii of the liver; to the left, the left semilunar ganglion 

 and the cardiac end of the stomach. It is closely surrounded by the dense solar 

 plexus of sympathetic nerves. 



Variations. — (A) The ((leliac axis may be absent ; the branches usually arisinsr fmrn it then 

 cominir off separately from the aorta. (B) It may be shorter or longer than usual. Ftuler the 

 latter circumstaiice the branches are commonly given off separately from the tnink of the vessel 

 instead of radiating frf)m one spot. (C) It may give off two branches only : these are usually the 

 splenic and hepatic, more rarely the gastric and the splenic. (D) It may give off more than three 

 branches, the additional branch being one of the jdircnies ; a trunk common to the two phrenics; 

 a gastro-duodenal ; a second gastric or splenic artery, or the superior mesenteric; the median 

 colic or the pancreatica magna. (E) One or other of the branehes normal to the coeliac axis may 

 be absent, or replaced by a stem common to the idirenies, or by the right suprarenal and the nght 

 gastro-epiploic, or more rarely by some other branch. 



Branches of the coeliac artery.— The coeliac axis gives off the gastric, hepatic, 

 and splenic arteries. 



