Descending aorta

Descending aorta
Plan of the branches.
The thoracic aorta, viewed from the left side.
Details
Latin	Aorta descendens, pars descendens aortae
Precursor	Dorsal aorta
Source	Aorta
Branches	Thoracic aorta Abdominal aorta
Identifiers
MeSH	A07.231.114.056.372
Dorlands /Elsevier	p_07/12616698
TA
TH	{{#property:P1694}}
TE	{{#property:P1693}}
FMA	{{#property:P1402}}
Anatomical terminology [[[d:|edit on Wikidata]]]

The descending aorta is part of the aorta, the largest artery in the body. The descending aorta is the part of the aorta beginning at the aortic arch that runs down through the chest and abdomen. The descending aorta anatomically consists of two portions or segments, the thoracic and the abdominal aorta, in correspondence with the two great cavities of the trunk in which it is situated. Within the abdomen, the descending aorta branches into the two common iliac arteries which serve the pelvis and eventually legs.

The ligamentum arteriosum connects to the junction between the arch of aorta and the descending aorta in foetal life. This artery later regresses as the ductus arteriosus.

See also

• Abbott artery

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

External links

• Anatomy figure: 19:04-03 at Human Anatomy Online, SUNY Downstate Medical Center - "Left side of the mediastinum."