This is a tutorial on the arteries of the body.
I'll cover some of the important arteries that you need to know.
Starting from the heart, I'll start with this artery here, the pulmonary trunk, which comes
from the right side of the heart and pumps deoxygenated blood to the lungs.
The pulmonary trunk bifurcates into left and right branches.
So you've got the left and right pulmonary artery.
You can see that there.
The right pulmonary artery just passing underneath the arch of the aorta.
On the left side of the heart, the left ventricle pumps blood out through the arch, through
the aorta, which arches over the pulmonary trunk.
At this level of the arch of the aorta where the pulmonary trunk bifurcates is the level
of the Angle of Louis, so the junction of vertebra T4/T5.
The Angle of Louis is where the manubrium of the sternum meets the body of the sternum.
If I just show you that quickly, this junction here is the Angle of Louis, the sternal angle.
That's the disc between T4 and T5.
So the arch of the aorta has three branches coming off of it, which you can see here.
So the first branch is the brachiocephalic trunk.
This second branch in the middle is the left common carotid and this branch here is the
left subclavian artery.
There's a mnemonic for remembering the branches of the arch of the aorta, ABCs (as in learning
your ABCs) -- a for aorta, b for brachiocephalic trunk, c for common carotid (so the left common
carotid) and S for subclavian (left subclavian).
So this branch here, the brachiocephalic trunk then splits into two branches.
You've got the right subclavian here and the right common carotid.
So just like you've got the left common carotid here, you've got the right common carotid
here, which branches off from the brachiocephalic trunk.
So just following the common carotid arteries up a bit further, they then split into another
three branches.
So you've got the internal carotid and the external carotid coming off the common carotid
artery.
The external carotid artery has loads of branches.
These supply the head and face.
So you can see all these arteries on the face.
These are branches of the external carotid artery.
The internal carotid artery however runs straight up to join the base of the brain at the Circle
of Willis, this arterial circle at the base of the brain which supplies the brain.
The internal carotid goes up to meet that.
So next along, an important artery to note is this one coming off the subclavian.
You've got this on both sides.
It's called the vertebral artery.
So you've got the common carotid coming off the brachiocephalic trunk on the right side
and you've got the subclavians on either side and you've got the vertebral artery, which
comes off the subclavian.
You can see the course of this artery.
It runs up through the transverse foramen of the cervical vertebra.
You can see this transverse process here and you can see this artery running up alongside
the vertebral vein through the transverse foramen.
The vertebral artery runs up and it meets the basilar artery to join the Circle of Willis
and supplies the posterior parts of the brain.
So that's the vertebral artery which comes off the subclavian.
So I'm just going to follow this course with the subclavian artery and we'll show you what
that extends down to.
So the subclavian artery, you can see it running here underneath the clavicle.
That's why it's called the 'subclavian' -- sub- meaning under and --clavian refer to the clavicle.
It runs underneath the clavicle.
The subclavian artery becomes the axillary artery.
And it becomes the axillary artery at the level of the lateral margin of the first rib.
The axillary artery runs here.
The 'axillary' refers to the armpit.
So it runs in the armpit region.
So if we just follow it down, you can see the artery running down the humerus.
This artery is the brachial artery.
The brachial artery then splits into two.
So you've got the radial artery and the ulnar artery.
Remember, radial is lateral in the anatomical position.
The radius is lateral and the ulnar bone is media.
Often in clinical medicine, you'll hear the words 'radial' and 'ulnar' referral to lateral
and medial because in the anatomical position, the radius is lateral and the ulnar is medial.
So the radial artery runs along the radius and is lateral and is on the thumb side.
The ulnar artery runs along the ulnar side and is medial and is on the side of the little
finger.
So following the artery a little bit further down, you can see the blood supply of the
hand.
You can see these arches here.
This is the superficial palmar arch and you've got the deep palmar arch.
So the superficial arch is obviously close to the surface of the palm because it's superficial
and the deep palmar arch is deeper obviously.
So the superficial arch, as you can see, is further towards the fingertips.
So it's more distal.
The deep palmar arch is more proximal.
So I'm just going to return back to the center of the body, back to the aorta.
We're going to follow it now down towards the abdomen and lower limbs.
The aorta can be divided into five sections.
The bit between the heart and this arch is called the ascending aorta.
You've got this ascending portion.
And then you've got this arch-shape.
This is the arch of the aorta.
And then you've got the descending aorta, the section from the arch of the aorta to
the point where it divides into the common iliac arteries down here.
That's the descending aorta.
And then you can divide it into the thoracic and abdominal aorta.
The thoracic aorta is the section of the aorta which is above the diaphragm.