AN5.1-8 | General features of the cardiovascular system — Glossary

Terminal artery with no anastomotic connections; occlusion causes infarction of the supplied territory (e.g., central artery of the retina)

Artery with insufficient anastomotic connections to prevent infarction during acute occlusion (e.g., coronary arteries)

Property of elastic arteries to stretch during systole and recoil during diastole, converting pulsatile flow to continuous flow

Venous system beginning and ending in capillaries without passing through the heart; carries substances directly between two organs

Raised portal venous pressure (>12 mmHg) usually from cirrhosis; causes varices, ascites, splenomegaly, and caput medusae

Communication between portal and systemic venous systems at four sites; enlarges in portal hypertension

Fetal shunt connecting the pulmonary trunk to the descending aorta, bypassing the non-functional lungs; closes at birth to become the ligamentum arteriosum

Opening in the fetal interatrial septum allowing oxygenated blood to pass from right to left atrium; closes at birth due to pressure reversal

Fetal shunt connecting the umbilical vein to the IVC, bypassing the liver; closes at birth to become the ligamentum venosum

Largest lymphatic vessel draining everything except the right arm, right thorax, and right head/neck; empties at the left venous angle

Lymphatic sac at L1-L2 receiving the lumbar and intestinal lymph trunks; the beginning of the thoracic duct

Dilated tortuous superficial veins from valve failure in perforating veins allowing retrograde flow from deep to superficial system

Longest vein in the body; runs medially from the foot to the saphenofemoral junction; used for coronary bypass grafts and IV access

Paired veins flanking an artery in the limbs; arterial pulsation aids venous return by compressing these adjacent veins

Alternative vascular pathway that develops to bypass an occluded vessel; best when occlusion is slow and progressive

Arterial anastomotic ring at the base of the brain connecting the anterior and posterior circulations; berry aneurysms form at its junctions

Dilated paraumbilical veins radiating from the umbilicus in portal hypertension; named after Medusa's snake hair

Left supraclavicular lymph node; Troisier's sign — enlargement suggests metastatic gastric or abdominal malignancy via the thoracic duct

Reversal of a left-to-right shunt to right-to-left due to pulmonary hypertension; causes cyanosis and is irreversible

Wuchereria bancrofti infection blocking lymphatic drainage; most common cause of secondary lymphoedema in India

Development and enlargement of pre-existing collateral arterioles into functional collateral vessels around an arterial occlusion