Lumbar artery

Looks like

Four pairs of small arteries leaving the back of the abdominal aorta, one wrapping around each lumbar vertebra.

What it does

Supply the lower back muscles, the vertebrae, the skin of the flank and part of the spinal cord's blood.

Keeping it well

After a stent graft for an aortic aneurysm they can keep feeding the sac from behind (a type II leak), so scans follow it up.

Related conditions

• Aortic aneurysm
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Hypothermia & frostbite
• Kawasaki disease
• Metabolic syndrome
• Orthostatic hypotension & POTS
• Peripheral artery disease
• Phaeochromocytoma & hyperaldosteronism
• Pre-eclampsia
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Sepsis
• Shock (circulatory failure)
• Vasculitis (GCA & others)