Pulmonary artery

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Artery: Pulmonary artery
Anterior (frontal) view of the opened heart. White arrows indicate normal blood flow. (Pulmonary artery labeled at upper right.)
Diagram of the alveoli with both cross-section and external view.
Latin truncus pulmonalis, arteria pulmonalis
Gray's subject #141 543
Source right ventricle
Vein pulmonary vein
MeSH A07.231.114.715

The pulmonary arteries carry blood from the heart to the lungs. They are the only arteries (other than umbilical arteries in the fetus) that carry deoxygenated blood.

In the human heart, the pulmonary trunk (pulmonary artery or main pulmonary artery) begins at the base of the right ventricle. It is short and wide - approximately 5 cm (2 inches) in length and 3 cm (1.2 inches) in diameter. It then branches into two pulmonary arteries (left and right), which deliver deoxygenated blood to the corresponding lung.

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[edit] Role in disease

Pulmonary hypertension occurs alone and as a consequence of a number of lung diseases. It can be a consequence of heart disease (Eisenmenger's syndrome) but equally a cause (right-ventricular heart failure); it also occurs as a consequence of pulmonary embolism and scleroderma. It is characterised by reduced exercise tolerance. Severe forms, generally, have a dismal prognosis.

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Cardiovascular system
Blood  |  Heart → Aorta → Arteries → Arterioles → Capillaries → Venules → Veins → Vena cava → Heart → Pulmonary arteries → Lungs → Pulmonary veins → Heart
Arteries of thorax, abdomen, and pelvis edit

pulmonary - aorta - ascending aorta
right coronary (sinuatrial nodal, atrioventricular nodal, atrial, right marginal, posterior interventricular)
left coronary (anterior interventricular, left circumflex, left marginal)
aortic arch - brachiocephalic - thyreoidea ima - common carotid | (Gray's s141-Gray's s143)

DESCENDING AORTA / THORACIC AORTA: bronchial - esophageal - posterior intercostal - subcostal | (Gray's s153)

ABDOMINAL AORTA: Anterior - celiac: left gastric

splenic: pancreatic branches (arteria pancreatica magna) - short gastric - left gastro-omental

common hepatic: proper hepatic (cystic), right gastric, gastroduodenal (right gastro-omental, superior pancreaticoduodenal)

superior mesenteric: inferior pancreaticoduodenal - intestinal - ileocolic (appendicular) - right colic - middle colic

inferior mesenteric: left colic - sigmoid - superior rectal

Posterior - Visceral: middle suprarenal - renal (inferior suprarenal) - testicular/ovarian - Parietal: inferior phrenic (superior suprarenal) - lumbar - median sacral

Terminal branches: common iliac - marginal - internal iliac | (Gray's s154)

INTERNAL ILIAC: Anterior: umbilical (superior vesical, to ductus deferens) - inferior vesical - middle rectal - uterine (azygos of the vagina) - vaginal - obturator
internal pudendal: (inferior rectal, perineal, artery of the urethral bulb, urethral, deep artery of the penis, dorsal artery of the penis)
inferior gluteal (accompanying of ischiadic nerve, crucial anastomosis)
Posterior: iliolumbar - lateral sacral - superior gluteal | (Gray's s155)

EXTERNAL ILIAC: inferior epigastric (cremasteric) - deep circumflex iliac | (Gray's s156)