Hepatic artery is an artery that distributes blood to the liver, pancreas and gallbladder as well as to the stomach and duodenal portion of the small intestine. It begins as the common hepatic artery and subsequently bifurcates into several branches which include proper hepatic artery , left hepatic artery , and right hepatic artery . The two latter ones may form a trifurcation with gastroduodenal artery in which case the proper hepatic artery is absent.
