Anatomy study note · Abdomen

Abdominal aorta

The aorta enters the abdomen through the aortic opening at T12, descends on the lumbar vertebral bodies behind the peritoneum, and divides at L4 into the two common iliac arteries.

Key points

• T12 (aortic opening) → L4 (bifurcation).
• Unpaired: coeliac (T12), SMA (just below it), IMA (~3.8 cm above the bifurcation).
• Paired: suprarenal, renal (L2), gonadal, inferior phrenic, lumbar ×4.
• Ends as 2 common iliacs + median sacral.
• Aneurysm: usually infrarenal.
• Ventral splanchnic: gut. Lateral splanchnic: kidney, adrenal, gonad.
• Elastic artery: 40–70 fenestrated elastic membranes in the media.
• Damps the pressure pulse.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Relations · Branches · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

Sign in free to see it on the 3D model, read the full note and practise questions on it.

Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 7, PDF pp. 954–958
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 13, PDF p. 175; ch. 15, PDF pp. 226, 250
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 11, PDF pp. 197–200

More from the abdomen

• Abdominal lymph nodes
• Appendix
• Ascending colon
• Biliary tree
• Caecum
• Coeliac trunk
• Descending colon
• Duodenum
• Epididymis
• External oblique
• Gallbladder
• Iliac arteries

Privacy policy · Designed by DATXOC LLC.