Left internal thoracic artery

Looks like

An artery running down inside the front chest wall, about a finger's width from the edge of the breastbone.

What it does

Supplies the front chest wall, breast and diaphragm; ends as the superior epigastric and musculophrenic arteries.

Keeping it well

Rarely gets plaque, so it is the preferred bypass graft to the heart's main artery; also used in breast reconstruction.

Its parts

• Left musculophrenic artery
• Left superior epigastric artery

Related conditions

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Hypothermia & frostbite
• Kawasaki disease
• Metabolic syndrome
• Orthostatic hypotension & POTS
• Peripheral artery disease
• Phaeochromocytoma & hyperaldosteronism
• Pre-eclampsia
• Raynaud's phenomenon
• Sepsis
• Shock (circulatory failure)
• Takayasu arteritis
• Thoracic outlet syndrome
• Vasculitis (GCA & others)