Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus II: Cardiovascular System: Arteries: Head, Neck, and Thorax

Pulmonary Artery

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

The right branch of the pulmonary artery is occasionally doubled, with the second branch arising from the right ventricle.

A pulmonary artery may be absent.

The right and left branches may be doubled.

The left branch may provide a branch to the left subclavian, and the right a branch to the brachiocephalic trunk.

In some cases, the ductus arteriosus arises from the aorta or the right ventricle.

An accessory pulmonary artery may arise from the abdominal aorta.

An anomalous right or left coronary artery may arise from the pulmonary artery.

A pulmonary artery may become retrotracheal.

The discovery of the pulmonary circulation, usually attributed to Michael Servetus, should properly be given to Ibn Alnafis. I n his book (cited by Abouna and by Castigilioni) Commentary on the anatomy and Physiology of Galen, Ibn Alnafis "affirms five times that contrary to Galen, the ventricular wall is not permeable, and he describes the lesser circulation three hundred years before Servetus and Realdus Colombus."

Image 103, Image 127, Image 271, Image 279

Left

See Image 103

Right

See Image 103

Retrotracheal

See Image 103

Ductus Arteriosus

See Image 103

References

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