Left coronary artery

Artery: Left coronary artery
	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)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Left main coronary artery)

Jump to: navigation, search

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.

[edit] Branching

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]

[edit] Additional images

Left coronary artery
Cardiac vessels.
The arch of the aorta, and its branches.
Diagram of the arch.
Human heart with coronary arteries.
Heart left lateral coronaries diagram.
Diagram of a myocardial infarction.
A coronary angiogram that shows the LMCA, LAD and LCX.
Autopsy specimen showing the coronary ostia and proximal segments of the coronary arteries. Compare with Gray's Anatomy drawing above.