Trunk vessels (aorta, vena cava, abdominal branches)
Celiac trunk
Truncus coeliacus
- Origin
- Arises from the anterior aspect of the abdominal aorta immediately below the aortic hiatus (T12 level)
- Insertion
- Divides after a short 1-2 cm course into the 'tripod of Haller': left gastric, common hepatic, and splenic arteries
- Function
- Supplies oxygenated blood to foregut derivatives (stomach, lower esophagus, liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, and proximal duodenum)
- Innervation
- Ensheathed by the celiac sympathetic plexus
- Movement & chain
- Pulsatile high-flow arterial conduction
- Palpation
- Not palpated directly
- Clinical
- Median arcuate ligament syndrome (MALS / Dunbar syndrome: extrinsic compression by the diaphragmatic median arcuate ligament causing postprandial ischemia and epigastric bruit), celiac aneurysm.
- Segmental innervation
- T6-T9 spinal levels
- In clinical practice
- Duplex ultrasound evaluation with respiratory maneuvers in suspected MALS, visceral arteriography assistance
- Region in the model
- Trunk vessels (aorta, vena cava, abdominal branches)