The aorta is the main artery leaving the heart. An aneurysm in an abnormal swelling of a blood vessel. The aorta begins its route exiting the heart toward the head, and as it loops downward branches form to supply arterial blood to the arms and head. Blood supply for the heart itself branches off at the very beginning of the aorta. Traveling down through the chest near the spine, the aorta passes through the diaphragm and divides to become the iliac arteries in the mid abdomen.
Branches serve the abdominal organs and the spine.
A tortuous aorta generally causes no problems. Problems from the other abnormalities may include pain, loss of blood supply to various body parts, and life threatening bleeding. An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a swelling of the largest artery in the abdomen. Untreated, such aneurysms eventually rupture, although there may be years between initial aneurysm formation and rupture. Rupture of the vessel causing massive hemorrhage must be distinguished from dissection, a tearing along the vessel wall itself that typically causes pain and may obstruct arterial branches.