Anterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery
Arteria pancreaticoduodenalis inferior anterior
A small artery from the superior mesenteric system that runs over the front of the pancreatic head to join its superior partner.
At a glance
- English
- Anterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria pancreaticoduodenalis inferior anterior
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Single, on the midline
About the anterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery
The head of the pancreas and the curve of the duodenum around it share a blood supply drawn from two sources: the coeliac trunk above and the superior mesenteric artery below. The two meet in a pair of arterial arcades, one on the front of the pancreatic head and one behind it. The anterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery is the lower half of the front arcade.
It comes from the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery, a short vessel that leaves the superior mesenteric artery, or a trunk it shares with the first jejunal artery, near the lower border of the pancreas. That vessel divides into anterior and posterior branches. The anterior one runs to the right and upwards on the front of the pancreatic head, close to the groove between pancreas and duodenum, and joins the anterior superior pancreaticoduodenal artery, which has come down from the gastroduodenal artery.
Along the way it gives small twigs into the pancreatic head and into the wall of the second and third parts of the duodenum.
The arcade it forms is one of the main bridges between the coeliac and superior mesenteric territories. When the origin of one trunk narrows, blood can reach the other through these arcades, and they may then enlarge; aneurysms of the pancreaticoduodenal arcades are described in this setting. The vessel must also be identified and divided in pancreaticoduodenectomy, the operation that removes the pancreatic head with the duodenum.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- The inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery, a branch of the superior mesenteric artery or of a trunk shared with the first jejunal artery.
- Ends in
- Ends by joining the anterior superior pancreaticoduodenal artery on the front of the pancreatic head, completing the anterior arcade.
- Supplies
- Supplies the front of the head of the pancreas and the adjacent second and third parts of the duodenum.
Anthromica
See the anterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery where it really sits, with every layer of the body around it.
- Every layer, one body. Peel from muscle to bone, nerve, vessel and organ, and turn it any way.
- English and Latin. Every structure named the way your exam names it.
- Quiz until it sticks. Short drills on the structures you keep missing.
Free to start. No card.
