Figure 21.

The celiac artery is the first major artery, which takes origin from the anterior aspect of the descending aorta just below the diaphragmatic hiatus. The superior mesenteric artery (SMA) lies approximately 2 cm below the origin of celiac artery. The origin of celiac and superior mesenteric artery from the aorta may be considered as two barrels of a gun where the aorta is the gun where the upper barrel generally takes off at an angle slightly <90° and the SMA takes off at an angle of 30-45°. The posterior surface of body of pancreas rests between the two barrels formed by the celiac artery and SMA