Editing Vascular system (section)

== '''Abdominal aorta''' ==

* Course
** Becomes the abdominal aorta      as it passes behind the median arcuate ligament, at the level of T12
** Passes downwards behind the      peritoneum on the bodies of the lumbar vertebrae, inclining slightly to      the left
** Bifurcates at L4
** Surface markings - just      below xiphisternum to just below umbilicus
* Posterior relations
** Anterior spinal ligament
** Cisterna chyli above
** Left lumbar veins and left      sympathetic trunk below
* Branches
** Single ventral arteries to      gut
*** Coeliac
*** SMA
*** IMA
** Paired branches to other      viscera
*** Suprarenal
*** Renal
*** Gonadal
** Paired branches to abdominal      wall
*** Subcostal
*** Inferior phrenic
*** Lumbar - four pairs arising       directly posteriorly
** Unpaired parietal branch
*** Median sacral