Common Hepatic Artery

The common hepatic artery is a small but important blood vessel in your belly. It supplies oxygen-rich blood to many parts of your digestive system. Your digestive organs need this steady supply of blood to work normally and break down nutrients from the foods you eat.

What does the common hepatic artery do?

The common hepatic artery and its branches supply blood to your:

• Duodenum (the first part of your small intestine)
• Liver
• Gallbladder
• Pancreas
• Stomach

These organs work together to process nutrients and get rid of waste.

An interesting fact about the common hepatic artery is that it provides just 25% of your liver’s total blood supply. The rest comes from your portal vein. But the blood carried by each vessel is different:

• The common hepatic artery delivers blood that’s rich in oxygen. This helps nourish your liver so it can work as it should.
• The portal vein delivers blood that’s low in oxygen. But it contains lots of nutrients that your liver must process so your body can use them.

Where is the common hepatic artery located?

Your common hepatic artery is in your belly. It’s below your ribcage but above your belly button. It’s one of three celiac trunk branches that deliver blood to your digestive organs. The celiac trunk is a major branch of your abdominal aorta, the biggest artery in your body that runs down the middle of your belly, in front of your spine.

From its starting point at the celiac trunk, the common hepatic artery travels toward the right side of your body. It runs along the top of your pancreas until it reaches the first part of your small intestine (duodenum). There, it divides into branches that lead to different digestive organs.

How big is it?

The exact size of the common hepatic artery varies from person to person. One study found that its median length is about 38 millimeters (1.5 inches). The median is the middle number. It means half of the people in the study had a longer length, and the other half had a shorter length.

The same study found that the median width of the common hepatic artery is 5.5 millimeters (0.2 inches). That’s about the width of three spaghetti strands bundled together.

What are its branches?

The common hepatic artery has two main branches:

• Gastroduodenal artery: This travels downward and behind the first part of your duodenum. It gives off two branches that supply blood to the duodenum, pancreas and bottom part of your stomach.
• Proper hepatic artery: This travels upward toward an opening at the bottom of your liver called the hilum. There, it divides into two branches called the right hepatic artery and left hepatic artery. These supply the right and left lobes of your liver.

The right gastric artery, which supplies blood to part of your stomach, typically branches from the proper hepatic artery. But in some people, it branches from the common hepatic artery instead.

Variant anatomy

Usually, the common hepatic artery starts at the celiac trunk. But sometimes, it can start at another artery instead. For example, it might start at the superior mesenteric artery or the aorta.

The branches of the common hepatic artery may also start or end at different spots than expected. There are many possible variants.

These differences don’t affect your daily life and shouldn’t cause any problems. But surgeons need to know the exact anatomy before doing an operation on a nearby organ, like your liver or pancreas. That’s why they’ll run imaging tests before surgery to see what your blood vessels look like. This helps them keep the vessels safe from injury.

What conditions can affect the common hepatic artery?

Most people don’t have issues with their common hepatic arteries. But it’s possible for the artery or one of its branches to:

• Grow too narrow (stenosis)
• Develop blood clots (thrombosis)

These problems can occur as complications of liver transplant surgery. You may not have symptoms if enough blood can still flow through the artery. But if blood flow drops too low, you may experience:

• Pain in your upper right abdomen
• Fever
• Skin or eyes that turn yellowish (jaundice)

Call a healthcare provider right away if you have these symptoms. They’ll run tests to find the problem and decide the best treatment. Depending on the issue, you may need a procedure or surgery to restore blood flow. Your provider will explain next steps and what you can expect.