Middle colic artery
Arteria colica media
An offshoot of the superior mesenteric artery, running in the transverse mesocolon and supplying most of the transverse colon.
At a glance
- English
- Middle colic artery
- Latin (TA2)
- Arteria colica media
- System
- Artery
- Region
- Trunk
- Side
- Single, on the midline
About the middle colic artery
The middle colic artery is one of the colic branches of the superior mesenteric artery, the vessel of the midgut. It leaves the front of its parent just below the neck of the pancreas, often as the first or second branch on the right side, and enters the transverse mesocolon, the fold of peritoneum that hangs the transverse colon from the posterior abdominal wall.
Inside the mesocolon it runs forwards and down towards the transverse colon and soon divides into a right and a left branch. The right branch heads towards the right colic (hepatic) flexure to meet the right colic artery, and the left branch heads towards the left colic (splenic) flexure and joins the left colic artery from the inferior mesenteric artery. These joins form arches a couple of finger-breadths from the bowel, and short straight vessels pass from the arches into the colon wall. The chain of arches is part of the marginal artery, which runs round the whole colon.
Its field is mainly the transverse colon apart from its left third, with some of the upper ascending colon near the hepatic flexure; the left third is the territory of the inferior mesenteric artery, and the two systems meet near the splenic flexure. A more central link between the middle and left colic arteries, the arc of Riolan, is present in some people and can enlarge when either main trunk narrows. Variations include origin from the coeliac or splenic artery and an accessory middle colic artery.
Surgeons deal with it in colon resections. In a right hemicolectomy, which removes the caecum and ascending colon, the surgeon usually divides the artery's right branch. In an extended right or a transverse colectomy the whole artery may be tied at its root. It must also be protected during surgery on the pancreas and stomach because it lies close to both.
Course and supply
- Arises from
- Arises from the front of the superior mesenteric artery just below the neck of the pancreas.
- Ends in
- Divides in the transverse mesocolon into right and left branches that join the right colic and left colic arteries.
- Supplies
- Supplies most of the transverse colon (all but its left third) and part of the upper ascending colon near the right colic flexure.
Anthromica
See the middle colic 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.
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