Predict which would be more damaging to long-term survival: a blood clot lodged in the right coronary artery or one in the left coronary artery. Explain.

Video transcript

Hi, everyone. Let's take a look at this practice problem together. The circumflex artery is part of the blood supply of the heart that when occluded will result in ischemia. Of which part of the heart. The answer options are a right atrium, B, right ventricle C, left atrium, the left ventricle E both A and B and option F both C and D. So this question is asking us to identify the location of the circumflex artery and what parts of the heart it supplies blood to. Now recall that the circumflex artery is a branch of the left coronary artery. So we're gonna go through a flow diagram together. So as blood leaves, the left ventricle, it enters the aorta. Now, at the base of the aorta, two main arteries branch off, there's the left coronary artery and the right coronary artery. The left coronary artery supplies blood to the left side of the heart. And the right coronary artery supplies blood to the right side of the heart. Now recall that the circumflex artery is a branch of that left coronary artery. Therefore, it should supply blood to the left side of the heart. That means that we can eliminate options A and B, the right atrium and right ventricle as well as option E. Now, the circuplex artery does indeed supply blood to the left atrium as well as the posterior lateral aspect of the left ventricle. Therefore, the correct answer is going to be option F both C and D. All right, everyone. I hope you found this helpful and I'll see you soon for the next practice problem.