CT Abdominal Vasculature - Video Lesson

Hey everybody, welcome back. This lesson is about the abdominal vasculature as seen in CT imaging. We'll start with a volume rendered image. This is a volume rendered CT image of the abdominal aorta. We can see the aorta and its branches because this patient received intravenous contrast and the scan was acquired during peak enhancement of the aorta. The vascular supply for the entire abdominal cavity and its contents is provided by the abdominal aorta. It descends through the abdomen anterior to the vertebral column and slightly left to midline. The abdominal aorta has several important branches apparent in sectional imaging. The celiac trunk is the first major branch of the abdominal aorta. It emerges from the anterior side of the aorta just below the level of the diaphragm. It branches into three vessels. From right to left, they are the common hepatic artery, which supplies the liver, the left gastric artery, which supplies the stomach, and the splenic artery, which supplies the spleen.