Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.
pages 546
| 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. |
Relations.—The ascending aorta is covered at its commencement by the trunk of the pulmonary artery and the right auricula, and, higher up, is separated from the sternum by the pericardium, the right pleura, the anterior margin of the right lung, some loose areolar tissue, and the remains of the thymus; posteriorly, it rests upon the left atrium and right pulmonary artery. On the right side, it is in relation with the superior vena cava and right atrium, the former lying partly behind it; on the left side, with the pulmonary artery. |
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FIG. 505– The arch of the aorta, and its branches. (See enlarged image) |
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FIG. 506– Plan of the branches. (See enlarged image) |
Branches.—The only branches of the ascending aorta are the two coronary arteries which supply the heart; they arise near the commencement of the aorta immediately above the attached margins of the semilunar valves. |
The Coronary Arteries.—The Right Coronary Artery (a. coronaria [cordis] dextra) arises from the right anterior aortic sinus. It passes at first between the conus arteriosus and the right auricula and then runs in the right portion of the coronary sulcus, coursing at first from the left to right and then on the diaphragmatic surface of the heart from right to left as far as the posterior longitudinal sulcus, down |