Left gastric artery

The left gastric artery is the smallest and most superior branch of the celiac trunk.

The left gastric artery ascends slightly and then courses along the superior portion of the lesser curvature of the stomach, running within the layers of the lesser omentum and passes upward and to the left, posterior to the omental bursa, to the cardiac orifice of the stomach. Here it distributes branches to the esophagus, which anastomose with the aortic esophageal arteries; others supply the cardiac part of the stomach, anastomosing with branches of the splenic artery. It then runs from left to right, along the lesser curvature of the stomach to the pylorus, between the layers of the lesser omentum; it gives branches to both surfaces of the stomach and anastomoses with the right gastric artery.