The gross anatomy of the pancreatic blood supply has been subjected to numerous studies. The results of such studies, however, have never been summarized in detail, even in the most important textbooks. For this reason, a certain confusion was generated, especially regarding the interpretation of the nomenclature used to identify pancreatic arteries. This review summarizes more than two centuries of studies of the gross anatomy of the pancreatic blood supply, clarifies the arterial nomenclature, and underlines the aspects about which anatomists are not in agreement. Moreover, it supplies, as far as possible, documentary evidence for numerous observations previously reported only verbally. For this purpose, more than 200 references were directly consulted to provide the anatomical background of the topic, and more than 1000 angiograms were studied to support the review with original figures. The present paper, on the superior pancreaticoduodenal and anterior superior pancreaticoduodenal arteries, is the first of a series of articles dealing with the pancreatic blood supply.
