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Posterior interventricular branch of coronary artery: anatomy, location and function

The artery in the posterior interventricular groove supplying the back of the ventricles. It supplies the posterior walls of both ventricles and the posterior third of the interventricular septum.

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Highlighted in the model: Posterior interventricular branch of coronary artery. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Posterior interventricular branch of coronary artery at a glance

Also called
Posterior descending artery
What it is
The artery in the posterior interventricular groove supplying the back of the ventricles.
Location
In right-dominant hearts (about 85% in Radiopaedia's figures; other studies give 70–90%) it arises from the right coronary artery near the crux of the heart. In left-dominant hearts (about 8%) it comes from the circumflex artery, and in co-dominant hearts (about 7%) both contribute. It runs toward the apex in the posterior interventricular groove, giving septal branches.
Function
It supplies the posterior walls of both ventricles and the posterior third of the interventricular septum.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA3840 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is also called the posterior descending artery.

Clinical relevance

Occlusion causes inferior myocardial infarction.

Structures next to the posterior interventricular branch of coronary artery

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Posterior interventricular branch of coronary artery (FMA3840). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.