The heart, like any other organ of the human body must be supplied with blood, to get together with the blood of oxygen and nutrients that are necessary for normal heart function. Arterial blood the heart receives through the system of the heart arteries, which are called "coronary arteries."

This name is due to the peculiarities of the heart arteries location: it resembles the rays diverging in different directions. In another way it's like a "crown", so you can also hear the coronary arteries of the heart, which translated from Latin means also the coronary arteries.

So supply blood to the heart muscle two arteries: the right and left. Each of them has a few large and many small branches. According to the purpose the left artery supplies the left ventricle and the right right. As the left ventricle is responsible for the systemic circulation, the left artery is more significant than the right. Although the right coronary artery also supplies the sinoatrial node (it is responsible for the maintenance of normal heart rhythm). With his defeat there are life-threatening arrhythmias - such as ventricular fibrillation.

Both coronary artery depart directly from the beginning of the systemic circulation from the bulb of the aorta. The mouths of the coronary arteries are located just behind the aortic valve and receives more blood there is in systole (like all other organs), and diastole of the heart, ie, when the heart is relaxed as much as possible.

The coronary arteries of the heart, like any other, made up of three layers: the inner (endothelium), middle (muscular layer) and outdoor.

So, there is coronary arteries that nourish the heart, and everything would be fine - would work the heart of ourselves, but to work, if not ill artery atherosclerosis of the heart. As in any artery of the body, in the wall of the coronary vessels can also be deposited cholesterol form plaques, narrowing of the lumen (stenosis of the coronary arteries).

Keep in mind that the heart arteries are very small, only 2-4 mm in diameter. To narrow this gap need much less time than, for example, narrow the lumen of the femoral artery (6-8 mm). Therefore, clinical coronary heart disease (namely, it causes coronary atherosclerosis) will be much earlier, and if not the first one.

So, what should be concluded from what has been said: the heart arteries are the same in structure as the rest of the artery. They are also affected by atherosclerosis. The diameter of the coronary artery is very small, and their closing cholesterol plaque takes less time than other vessels. Narrowing (stenosis) of the coronary arteries cause myocardial ischemia during physical activity of the body, and leads to development of diseases such as coronary heart disease.