Celiac artery
first major branch of the abdominal aorta
The celiac () artery (also spelled coeliac in British English), also known as the celiac trunk, Haller's tripod or truncus coeliacus, is the first major branch of the abdominal aorta. It is about 1.27 cm (half an inch) in length. Branching from the aorta at the level of the T12-L1 intervertebral disc in typical anatomy, it is one of three anterior/midline branches of the abdominal aorta (the others are the superior and inferior mesenteric arteries).
Structure
The celiac artery is the first major branch of the descending abdominal aorta, branching at a 90° angle. This occurs just below the crus of the diaphragm. In typical anatomy, this is at the T12-L1 vertebral level.
There are three main divisions of the celiac artery, and each in turn has its own named branches:
The celiac artery may also give rise to the inferior phrenic arteries.
Function
The celiac artery supplies oxygenated blood to the liver, stomach, abdominal esophagus, spleen, and the superior half of both the duodenum and the pancreas. These structures correspond to the embryonic foregut. (Similarly, the superior mesenteric artery and inferior mesenteric artery feed structures arising from the embryonic midgut and hindgut respectively.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q519368. The Library of Congress control number is sh85021630. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Celiac artery” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.