Right colic artery

Artery: Right colic artery
The superior mesenteric artery and its branches. (Right colic visible at center.)
Colonic blood supply (Right colic artery is #4)
Latin arteria colica dextra
Gray's subject #154 609
Supplies ascending colon
Source superior mesenteric artery   
Vein right colic vein

The Right Colic Artery arises from about the middle of the concavity of the superior mesenteric artery, or from a stem common to it and the ileocolic.

It passes to the right behind the peritoneum, and in front of the right internal spermatic or ovarian vessels, the right ureter and the Psoas major, toward the middle of the ascending colon; sometimes the vessel lies at a higher level, and crosses the descending part of the duodenum and the lower end of the right kidney.

At the colon it divides into a descending branch, which anastomoses with the ileocolic, and an ascending branch, which anastomoses with the middle colic.

These branches form arches, from the convexity of which vessels are distributed to the ascending colon.

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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 As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.