Artery

From Citizendium
Revision as of 17:45, 12 May 2010 by imported>Howard C. Berkowitz
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is a stub and thus not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

An artery is a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to other parts of the body. With the exception of the pulmonary artery, arterial blood is more highly oxygenated then in venous blood.

Pressure in arteries is normally higher than in veins. Medical interventions using blood vessels for access usually prefer arteries, as lower-risk than arterial access, although certain procedures, such as arterial blood gas measurement, must be done in arteries.

In higher animals, the largest artery is the aorta, which divides into smaller arteries.