Arteries Of The Body

OVERVIEW

This page is dedicated to tracing the arteries of the body back to the aorta.

AORTA

The aorta is the largest artery in the body. This page is organized by arteries that branch directly off of the aorta. These branches (in order) are found below:

Branches of the aorta (source)
Branches of the aorta (source)
RIGHT CORONARY ARTERY (RCA)

The right coronary artery branches into the posterior descending artery and the right marginal artery

LEFT CORONARY ARTERY (LCA)

The left coronary artery

BRACHIOCEPHALIC ARTERY

The brachiocephalic artery branches into the right common carotid artery and the right subclavian artery

LEFT COMMON CAROTID ARTERY

The common carotid artery splits into both the internal carotid artery and external carotid artery.

LEFT SUBCLAVIAN ARTERY

The left subclavian artery is a direct branch of the aorta.

INFERIOR PHRENIC ARTERY

The inferior phrenic arteries are present on each side so there is a right inferior phrenic artery and a left inferior phrenic artery. Often they arise from the front of the aorta right above the celiac artery (they can share a common trunk), however it is important to note that there are often some variations to their origin.

CELIAC ARTERY

The celiac artery is a direct branch off of the aorta that itself has some important branches:

  1. Left Gastric
  2. Splenic
  3. Common Hepatic
SUPERIOR MESENTERIC ARTERY

The superior mesenteric artery (SMA) gives rise to the following important branches:

  1. Inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery
  2. Intestinal arteries
  3. Ileocolic artery
  4. Right colic artery
  5. Middle colic artery
RENAL ARTERY

The renal artery

TESTICULAR/OVARIAN ARTERY

In males this will be the testicular artery.

In females this will be the ovarian artery.

INFERIOR MESENTERIC ARTERY

The inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) gives rise to the following important branches:

  1. Left colic
  2. Sigmoid branches
  3. Superior rectal artery
MEDIAN SACRAL
COMMON ILLIAC ARTERY

The aorta terminally bifurcates into the right and left common iliac arteries. Each Illiac artery then splits into:

  1. External iliac artery
  2. Internal iliac artery