Superior mesenteric artery
Latin: Arteria mesenterica superior
Location: Abdomen
View the superior mesenteric artery in 3DCourse
Leaves the aorta's front at L1, below the coeliac trunk and behind the pancreas' neck, then descends across the uncinate process and third part of the duodenum in the mesentery's root, angled toward the right iliac fossa.
Branches
Inferior pancreaticoduodenal, middle colic, right colic, ileocolic and 15–18 intestinal branches — the midgut's supply from duodenum to transverse colon's two-thirds.
Clinical relevance
Acute SMA embolism is the vascular catastrophe of the gut — pain out of proportion to findings, then late peritonism; the marginal artery links its territory with the IMA's at the splenic flexure, the watershed where ischaemic colitis strikes.
Educational anatomy reference, not medical advice. About this content.