Week 2 - Arteries & Veins

Question 1

A 65-year-old patient has been brought into the hospital for a myocardial infarction. The interventional cardiologist wishes to put a stent into the Left Coronary Artery (LCA). The cardiologist asks you to outline the arterial pathway of the guidewire to be inserted (they wish to begin at the femoral artery).

Answer 1

Femoral artery → External iliac artery → Common iliac → Abdominal Aorta → Thoracic Descending Aorta → Arch of Aorta → Ascending Aorta

The left coronary artery (left main coronary artery) emerges from the aorta through the ostia of the left aortic cusp, within the sinus of Valsalva**.

Question 2

At which anatomical landmark does the transition from the external iliac artery to the femoral artery occur?

a) Head of femur
b) Inguinal ligament
c) Pelvic outlet
d) Anterior superior iliac spine
e) Pubic ramus

Answer 2

a) Head of femur

b) Inguinal ligament

c) Pelvic outlet
d) Anterior superior iliac spine
e) Pubic ramus

Question 3

Which two veins are the tributaries of the hepatic portal vein?

a) Superior mesenteric vein + inferior mesenteric vein
b) Common iliac vein + superior mesenteric vein
c) Splenic vein + superior mesenteric vein
d) Splenic vein + inferior mesenteric vein
e) Common iliac vein + inferior mesenteric vein

Answer 3

The hepatic portal vein is formed by the union of the superior mesenteric and the splenic veins behind the neck of the pancreas.

Question 4

At what anatomical landmark does the transition from the axillary artery to the brachial artery occur?

Answer 4

At the lateral margin of the first rib, the subclavian artery becomes to axillary artery.

After passing the lower margin of teres major the axillary artery becomes the brachial artery.

Question 5

Deoxygenated blood from the brain is principally transmitted by which vessel(s)?

a) Carotid sinus
b) Greater cardiac vein
c) Subclavian veins
d) Azygous vein
e) Internal jugular veins

Answer 5

• a) Carotid sinus = a dilated area at the base of the internal carotid artery just superior to the bifurcation of the internal carotid and external carotid at the level of the superior border of thyroid cartilage.
• b) Greater cardiac vein
• c) Subclavian veins
• d) Azygous vein - drains the posterior walls of the thorax and abdomen into SVC.
• e) Internal jugular veins → drains into brachiocephalic veins which join & drain into SVC

Question 6

Which artery supplies the foregut?

Answer 6

= Celiac trunk

celiac trunk for the foregut; the superior mesenteric artery for the midgut; and the inferior mesenteric artery for the hindgut.