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Anaesthesia => Heart => Aorta
Aorta
Aorta, principal artery of the body. In humans the aorta rises from the left ventricle of the heart, arches back and downwards over the root of the left lung, passes through the diaphragm into the abdomen, and divides into the right and left iliac arteries at about the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra. Originating at the heart, the aorta gives rise to the coronary arteries supplying the heart muscle with blood; from the arch arise the innominate, subclavian, and carotid arteries, which supply the head and arms. The descending part of the aorta gives rise, in the thorax, to the intercostal arteries that ramify in the body wall. In the abdomen it gives off the coeliac artery, which divides into the gastric, hepatic, and splenic arteries; the mesenteric arteries to the intestines; the renal arteries to the kidneys; and small branches to the body wall and to reproductive organs.
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