Left gastroepiploic artery

Last revised by Rohit Sharma on 13 Aug 2022

The left gastroepiploic artery (LGA) is one of the branches of the splenic artery.

Gross anatomy

Course

The left gastroepiploic artery most commonly arises from the splenic artery, and runs within the gastrosplenic ligament. It then runs within the two layers of the greater omentum to the right along the greater curvature of the stomach, approximately 1 cm from the gastric wall before it anastomoses with the right gastroepiploic artery to form the arc of Barkow.

Branches

The left gastroepiploic artery gives off branches to the stomach, which comes off at right angles, in contrast to branches from vagal nerve trunks, which comes off obliquely.

Both left and right gastroepoploic arteries give off branches known as the epiploic branches that pass inferiorly between the two layers of the greater omentum. These branches pass over the transverse colon, but do not supply it.

Relations

Veins of the same name accompany the arteries.

Variant anatomy

Instead of anastomosing directly with the right gastroepiploic artery, the left and right gastroepiploic arteries may terminate by sinking directly into the gastric wall.

Variant origins of the left gastroepiploic artery include 1:

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