Vascular Supply of the Pancreas and Spleen

00:01 So now, let's move on to the blood supply of both the pancreas and the spleen.

00:07 So the pancreas and the spleen are very much a foregut organ.

00:11 So they're going to receive the vast majority of their blood supply from the celiac trunk.

00:16 So here again, we have the celiac trunk.

00:18 Importantly though, we also have some contributions from the superior mesenteric artery.

00:23 And we have mentioned that previously.

00:25 We'll come to that in a moment.

00:26 But the vast majority of the pancreas and spleen is supplied by the celiac trunk.

00:33 So we can see here, we have the celiac trunk coming away from the aorta.

00:37 The main branch of the celiac trunk associated with this area is the splenic artery.

00:42 It runs along the posterior surface of the pancreas, and then heads why the splenorenal ligament towards the spleen.

00:50 And here we can see some splenic branches of the splenic artery.

00:55 As the splenic artery courses along the pancreas towards the spleen, you can see gives off some blood vessels that go to the tail of the pancreas.

01:03 And then, going back to the celiac trunk, we can see the common hepatic artery is going to be important, as we look to the head, the body, and the uncinate process of the pancreas.

01:13 So here we have the common hepatic artery.

01:15 You will remember a branch of the common hepatic artery was the gastroduodenal artery.

01:21 And here we can see the gastroduodenal artery which is giving rise to the anterior version of the superior pancreaticoduodenal artery.

01:30 So the gastroduodenal artery gives rise to the superior pancreaticoduodenal artery which has both an anterior and a posterior version.

01:40 Let's have a look at the anterior inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery though first because that is coming from the superior mesenteric artery.

01:50 And it's important to link these two, because they form an important anastomotic link around the head and uncinate process of the pancreas.

01:59 And we can see now how the pancreas, the head of it receives its contribution from both, the celiac trunk, and the superior mesenteric artery.

02:08 So here we can see the anastomosis around the head of the pancreas between the superior and inferior pancreaticoduodenal arteries, anterior versions.

02:18 We can see that contribution around the head of the pancreas.

02:23 To see the posterior versions of them, we need to spin the pancreas and the spleen around.

02:28 But let's orientate ourselves again.

02:30 We have here is a celiac trunk giving rise to the gastroduodenal artery.

02:35 And here is the superior mesenteric artery.

02:38 We can see the celiac trunk giving rise to the gastroduodenal artery, but it also gives rise to this dorsal pancreatic artery and that supplies the posterior surface of the pancreas.

02:50 Coming off the gastroduodenal artery, you may remember, we had the superior pancreaticoduodenal arteries, anterior version.

02:59 Now, we have the posterior version supplying the posterior aspect of the pancreas.

03:05 Let's turn now to the superior mesenteric artery where you won't be surprised to see we have the inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery.

03:13 But this time we have the posterior version.

03:17 And again, we can see the anastomosis occurring between these two posterior pancreaticoduodenal arteries, both the superior and the inferior version.

03:28 You can see that there's a highly complicated blood supply to this region.

03:33 So it's often best to find the core arteries, celiac trunk, superior mesenteric artery, and try drawing it out for yourself.

03:40 And then looking back at the video, and seeing if you've got it right.