Inferior phrenic arteries

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Artery: Inferior phrenic arteries
The abdominal aorta and its branches. (Inferior phrenic arteries labeled at upper right.)
Posterior abdominal wall, after removal of the peritoneum, showing kidneys, suprarenal capsules, and great vessels.
Latin arteria phrenica inferior
Gray's subject #154 612
Supplies thoracic diaphragm
Source abdominal aorta   
Branches superior suprarenal artery
Vein inferior phrenic vein
Dorlands
/ Elsevier
    
a_61/12155488

The inferior phrenic arteries are two small vessels, which supply the diaphragm but present much variety in their origin.

They may arise separately from the front of the aorta, immediately above the celiac artery, or by a common trunk, which may spring either from the aorta or from the celiac artery. Sometimes one is derived from the aorta, and the other from one of the renal arteries; they rarely arise as separate vessels from the aorta.

They diverge from one another across the crura of the diaphragm, and then run obliquely upward and lateralward upon its under surface.

Near the back part of the central tendon each vessel divides into a medial and a lateral branch.

Each vessel gives off superior suprarenal branches to the suprarenal gland of its own side. The spleen and the liver also receive a few twigs from the left and right vessels respectively.

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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.