| Artery: Left coronary artery | |
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| Base of ventricles exposed by removal of the atria. (Left coronary artery visible at left.) | |
| Coronary arteries (labeled in red text) and other major landmarks (in blue text). Left coronary artery is at upper right in the image. | |
| Latin | arteria coronaria sinistra |
| Gray's | subject #142 547 |
| Source | ascending aorta |
| Branches | anterior interventricular circumflex (ramus intermedius) |
The left coronary artery, abbreviated LCA and also known as the left main coronary artery (often abbreviated LMCA), arises from the aorta above the left cusp of the aortic valve.
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It typically runs for 1 to 25 mm and then bifurcates into the anterior interventricular artery (also called left anterior descending (LAD)) artery and the left circumflex artery (LCX). Sometimes an additional artery arises at the bifurcation of the left main artery, forming a trifurcation; this extra artery is called the intermediate artery.[1]
The part that is between the aorta and the bifurcation only is known as the left main artery (LM), while the term 'LCA' might refer to just the left main, or to the left main and all its eventual branches.
A "first septal branch" is sometimes described.[2]
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