Right colic artery

Artery: Right colic artery
The superior mesenteric artery and its branches. (Right colic visible at center.)
Latin	arteria colica dextra
Gray's	subject #154 609
Supplies	ascending colon
Source	superior mesenteric artery
Vein	right colic vein
Dorlands / Elsevier	a_61/12153948

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The Right Colic Artery arises from about the middle of the concavity of the superior mesenteric artery, or from a stem common to it and the ileocolic.

It passes to the right behind the peritoneum, and in front of the right internal spermatic or ovarian vessels, the right ureter and the Psoas major, toward the middle of the ascending colon; sometimes the vessel lies at a higher level, and crosses the descending part of the duodenum and the lower end of the right kidney.

At the colon it divides into a descending branch, which anastomoses with the ileocolic, and an ascending branch, which anastomoses with the middle colic.

These branches form arches, from the convexity of which vessels are distributed to the ascending colon.

External links

• SUNY Figs 39:01-04 - "Branches of the superior mesenteric artery."
• SUNY Labs 39:03-0102 - "Intestines and Pancreas: Branches of Superior Mesenteric Artery"
• SUNY Anatomy Image 8580
• Norman/Georgetown largeintestine
• Norman/Georgetown sup&infmesentericart

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.