What is the 'widow maker' artery?

What is the 'widow maker' artery?

• A. The Right Coronary Artery
• B. The Circumflex artery
• C. The Posterior Interventricular artery
• D. The Anterior Interventricular artery

Answer: (D)

The main concept here is that a blockage in the left anterior descending artery is unusually dangerous because this artery supplies a large portion of the left ventricle and the interventricular septum. When the left anterior interventricular (anterior interventricular) artery is occluded, a large area of the heart muscle can be deprived of blood, leading to a massive anterior heart attack and a high risk of sudden death if not treated promptly. That’s why it earned the nickname “widow maker.” Other arteries supply different regions: the right coronary artery often feeds the right ventricle and, depending on heart dominance, parts of the inferior wall; the circumflex artery supplies the lateral and sometimes posterior walls; the posterior interventricular artery serves the posterior part of the heart. None of these typically jeopardizes as large a territory as the left anterior descending artery, which is why the LAD is the correct focus for the term widow maker.

The main concept here is that a blockage in the left anterior descending artery is unusually dangerous because this artery supplies a large portion of the left ventricle and the interventricular septum. When the left anterior interventricular (anterior interventricular) artery is occluded, a large area of the heart muscle can be deprived of blood, leading to a massive anterior heart attack and a high risk of sudden death if not treated promptly. That’s why it earned the nickname “widow maker.”

Other arteries supply different regions: the right coronary artery often feeds the right ventricle and, depending on heart dominance, parts of the inferior wall; the circumflex artery supplies the lateral and sometimes posterior walls; the posterior interventricular artery serves the posterior part of the heart. None of these typically jeopardizes as large a territory as the left anterior descending artery, which is why the LAD is the correct focus for the term widow maker.