# Heart & blood vessels

The cardiovascular system is the heart together with the arteries, veins, and capillaries that circulate blood through every tissue of the body.

## About heart & blood vessels

Gray's Anatomy (1918) describes the heart as a four-chambered muscular pump lying in the middle mediastinum, and traces the great vessels — aorta, venae cavae, pulmonary artery and veins — that carry blood to and from it.

## Questions

### What is the main artery called?

The largest artery in the body.

### What is the superior vena cava?

A large vein that drains blood from the head, neck, arms, and upper chest.

### What is the inferior vena cava?

The largest vein in the body.

### What is the pulmonary artery?

A short, wide artery that carries deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs.

### What are the pulmonary veins?

Four veins — two from each lung — that carry oxygenated blood back to the heart.

## Sources

- [Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body (1918)](https://www.bartleby.com/107/)

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