The descending aorta is part of the aorta, the largest artery in the body. The descending aorta is the part of the aorta beginning at the aortic arch that runs down through the chest and abdomen. The descending aorta is divided into two portions, the thoracic and abdominal, in correspondence with the two great cavities of the trunk in which it is situated. Within the abdomen, the descending aorta branches into the two common iliac arteries which serve the pelvis and eventually legs.
Famous quotes containing the word descending:
“Man is a stream whose source is hidden. Our being is descending into us from we know not whence. The most exact calculator has no prescience that somewhat incalculable may not balk the very next moment. I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)