{{Short description|Artery supplying the heart}} {{Infobox artery | Name = Posterior descending artery | Latin = ramus interventricularis posterior arteriae | Image = Gray491.png | Caption = Base and diaphragmatic surface of heart. (Posterior descending artery not visible, but it runs near the middle cardiac vein, which is labeled at the bottom.) | Image2 = Cardiac vessels.png | Caption2 = '''ARTERIES:'''<br>RCA = right coronary<br>AB = atrial branches<br>SANB = sinuatrial nodal<br>RMA = right marginal<br>LCA = left coronary<br>CB = circumflex branch<br>LAD/AIB = anterior interventricular<br>LMA = left marginal<br>PIA/PDA = posterior descending<br>AVN = atrioventricular nodal<br><br>'''VEINS:'''<br>SCV = small cardiac<br>ACV = anterior cardiac<br>AIV/GCV = great cardiac<br>MCV = middle cardiac<br>CS = coronary sinus | BranchFrom = Right coronary artery | BranchTo = | Vein = Middle cardiac vein, posterior interventricular vein<ref name="pmid9811219">{{cite journal |vauthors=Nerantzis CE, Lefkidis CA, Smirnoff TB, Agapitos EB, Davaris PS |title=Variations in the origin and course of the posterior interventricular artery in relation to the crux cordis and the posterior interventricular vein: an anatomical study |journal=Anat. Rec. |volume=252 |issue=3 |pages=413–7 |date=November 1998 |pmid=9811219|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1097-0185(199811)252:3<413::AID-AR9>3.0.CO;2-9|doi-access=free }}</ref> | Supplies = Ventricles<br>interventricular septum }}
In the coronary circulation, the '''posterior descending artery''' ('''PDA'''), also called the '''posterior interventricular artery''' ('''PIV''', '''PIA''', or '''PIVA'''), is an artery running in the posterior interventricular sulcus to the apex of the heart where it meets with the left anterior descending artery also known as the anterior interventricular artery. The PDA supplies the posterior third of the interventricular septum. The remaining anterior two-thirds is supplied by the left anterior descending artery, which is a branch of left coronary artery.
It is typically a branch of the right coronary artery (70%, known as right dominance). Alternately, the PDA can be a branch of the circumflex coronary artery (10%, known as left dominance) which itself is a branch of the left coronary artery. It can also be supplied by an anastomosis of the left and right coronary artery (20%, known as co-dominance).<ref name="Hurst">{{cite book | last=Fuster | first=V |author2=Alexander RW |author3=O'Rourke RA | title=Hurst's The Heart | publisher=McGraw-Hill | year=2001 | page=53 | edition=10th | isbn=0-07-135694-0 }}</ref>
Variants have been reported.<ref name="pmid9283726">{{cite journal |vauthors=Topaz O, Holdaway B, Bailey NT, Vetrovec GW |title=Anatomic variant of the posterior interventricular coronary artery: implications for coronary angioplasty in acute myocardial infarction |journal=Clin Anat |volume=10 |issue=5 |pages=303–6 |year=1997 |pmid=9283726 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1098-2353(1997)10:5<303::AID-CA2>3.0.CO;2-R}}</ref>
The anatomical position of the artery is not really posterior, but inferior. The terminology posterior is based on viewing the heart from the "Valentine" position, not by the heart's actual position in the body.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.0021-8782.2004.00330.x | volume=205 | title=Cardiac anatomy revisited | journal=Journal of Anatomy | pages=159–177 | last1 = Anderson | first1 = Robert H.| pmc=1571338 | pmid=15379923 | year=2004| issue=3 }}</ref>
==Additional images== thumb|300px|left|Coronary arteries (labeled in red text) and other major landmarks (in blue text). ''Posterior descending artery'' is labeled at left. left|thumb <gallery> File:Human heart with coronary arteries new.png|Human heart with coronary arteries </gallery><br/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{SUNYAnatomyFigs|20|04|04}} - "Posterior view of the heart." * [https://web.archive.org/web/20030307121742/http://mywebpages.comcast.net/wnor/heartpostmajorvessels.jpg Image] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20031209060034/http://www.guidant.com/condition/heart/images/figure11_lg.jpg Image at guidant.com]
{{Arteries of chest}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Arteries of the thorax
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