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Trunk of anterior interventricular branch of coronary artery: anatomy, location and function

The main stem of the left anterior descending artery. It supplies the anterior left ventricle, the apex and the anterior two thirds of the septum.

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Highlighted in the model: Trunk of anterior 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.

Trunk of anterior interventricular branch of coronary artery at a glance

Also called
Left anterior descending artery
What it is
The main stem of the left anterior descending artery.
Location
It arises from the left coronary artery and runs in the anterior interventricular groove toward the apex.
Function
It supplies the anterior left ventricle, the apex and the anterior two thirds of the septum.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA74912 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is also called the left anterior descending artery.
  • It gives diagonal branches to the left ventricle and septal perforators to the anterior two-thirds of the septum and the bundle branches.

Clinical relevance

Proximal occlusion is nicknamed the widow-maker because it infarcts a large part of the left ventricle; it is the most commonly occluded coronary artery.

Structures next to the trunk of anterior 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: Trunk of anterior interventricular branch of coronary artery (FMA74912). 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.