Vessel · Chest

Aorta

Aorta

The aorta is the body's main artery and the trunk from which every other systemic artery ultimately branches. It leaves the left ventricle, arches over to the left behind the sternum giving off the arteries to the head and arms, then runs down through the chest and abdomen just in front of the spine, shedding branches to every organ, before dividing at about the level of the navel into the two common iliac arteries that carry blood into the pelvis and legs.