Left gastric artery
Arteria gastrica sinistra
The left gastric artery is the smallest branch of the coeliac trunk. It rises to the junction of the oesophagus and stomach, then runs along the lesser curvature of the stomach, supplying the lower oesophagus and the lesser curvature.
Overview
The artery runs up and to the left behind the lesser sac to the cardia of the stomach. There it gives oesophageal branches, which join the oesophageal branches of the thoracic aorta. It then turns down between the two layers of the lesser omentum along the lesser curvature and anastomoses with the right gastric artery, which usually comes from the proper hepatic or common hepatic artery.
In about 10–25% of people the left gastric artery also gives an accessory or replaced left hepatic artery. Its companion vein, the left gastric (coronary) vein, drains into the portal system and forms the portal side of the oesophageal portosystemic anastomosis.
Anatomy
- Branches
Oesophageal branches, gastric branches to both surfaces of the stomach along the lesser curvature, and sometimes an accessory or replaced left hepatic artery.
Function
- Supplies the abdominal oesophagus and the lesser curvature of the stomach.
Clinical significance
Bleeding gastric ulcer
An ulcer on the lesser curvature of the stomach can erode the left gastric artery and cause a major upper GI bleed. Bleeding that cannot be controlled endoscopically can be treated by blocking the artery from inside (angiographic embolisation).
Hepatic artery variants
A replaced left hepatic artery arising from the left gastric artery must be recognised before gastrectomy and liver transplantation.
Compiled from standard anatomy and physiology references — see the Cardiovascular System sources. For education only; not medical advice.