Patient Care - Adult cardiac, endovascular, and thoracic aortic surgery
Patient information & resources
Patient appointments & physician referrals: please call 210-450-0999.
Coronary arteries - The coronary arteries supply blood to the heart muscle. The right coronary artery supplies both the left and the right heart; the left coronary artery supplies the left heart.
Posterior heart arteries:
Ascending aorta
About 5 cm. in length. It commences at the upper part of the base of the left ventricle, on a level with the lower border of the third costal cartilage behind the left half of the sternum; it passes obliquely upward, forward, and to the right, in the direction of the heart’s axis, as high as the upper border of the second right costal cartilage, describing a slight curve in its course, and being situated, about 6 cm. behind the posterior surface of the sternum. At its origin it presents, opposite the segments of the aortic valve, three small dilatations called the aortic sinuses. At the union of the ascending aorta with the aortic arch the caliber of the vessel is increased, owing to a bulging of its right wall. This dilatation is termed the bulb of the aorta, and on transverse section presents a somewhat oval figure. The ascending aorta is contained within the pericardium, and is enclosed in a tube of the serous pericardium, common to it and the pulmonary artery.
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