Which artery branches into the proper hepatic artery and gastroduodenal artery?

Which artery branches into the proper hepatic artery and gastroduodenal artery?

• A. Left gastric artery
• B. Splenic artery
• C. Proper hepatic artery
• D. Common hepatic artery

Answer: (D)

The common hepatic artery is the parent vessel that gives rise to both the proper hepatic artery and the gastroduodenal artery. From the celiac trunk, the common hepatic artery travels a short course and then divides—continuing as the proper hepatic artery toward the liver while giving off the gastroduodenal artery, which runs behind the first part of the duodenum and supplies the stomach and pancreas–duodenum region through its branches. The other arteries listed don’t fit this pattern. The left gastric artery mainly supplies the stomach and esophagus; the splenic artery supplies the spleen (and pancreas via pancreatic branches); and the proper hepatic artery is a branch of the common hepatic and does not generate both of these arteries.

The common hepatic artery is the parent vessel that gives rise to both the proper hepatic artery and the gastroduodenal artery. From the celiac trunk, the common hepatic artery travels a short course and then divides—continuing as the proper hepatic artery toward the liver while giving off the gastroduodenal artery, which runs behind the first part of the duodenum and supplies the stomach and pancreas–duodenum region through its branches.

The other arteries listed don’t fit this pattern. The left gastric artery mainly supplies the stomach and esophagus; the splenic artery supplies the spleen (and pancreas via pancreatic branches); and the proper hepatic artery is a branch of the common hepatic and does not generate both of these arteries.