Operation Theatre & Anesthesia Technology

  The abdominal aorta in a nutshell The abdominal aorta is a continuation of the descending thoracic aorta . It supplies all of the abdominal organs , and its terminal branches go on to supply the  pelvis and lower limbs . It also supplies the undersurface of the diaphragm and parts of the abdominal wall . It begins at T12 and ends at L4 , where it divides into the right and left common iliac arteries . It enters the abdomen through the aortic opening of the diaphragm , which is located beneath the median arcuate ligament between the crura of the diaphragm   at T12 . It is accompanied through the aortic opening by the azygos vein and the thoracic duct . It is located on th e posterior abdominal wall in the retroperitoneal space of the abdomen. It descends on the left of the inferior vena cava  (IVC) over the anterior surface of the bodies of the lumbar vertebrae and follows the curvature of the lower spin