The systemic circulation describes the extensive collection of arteries that distribute oxygenated blood to the tissue of the body and return deoxygenated blood to the heart.

Once returned to the right atrium of the heart, deoxygenated venous blood is pumped from the right ventricle into the pulmonary circulation where it is oxygenated in the alveoli of the lungs before being returned to the left atrium of the heart. This freshly oxygenated blood then moves into the right ventricle of the heart where a forceful muscular contraction of the heart's cardiac muscle expels the oxygenated blood into the aorta.

Because the coronary circulation derives from coronary arteries that almost immediately branch off the aorta, the coronary circulation can be described as a specialized part of the systemic circulation.

Blood in the aorta blood passes upward (superiorly) through the artic arch. From this arch, the aorta gives rives...