Supplies most of left ventricle. Anastomoses of cardiac veins throughout the myocardium, with most named veins feeding into the coronary sinus elaboration of the great cardiac vein. The descending aorta becomes the thoracic aorta. Coarctation of the aorta can lead to a visibly increased collateral circulation. The azygos system also provides a means of returning blood to the heart from the lower limb and trunk in case of inferior vena cava obstruction.
Lymphatic vessels carry interstitial tissue fluids back to the bloodstream.
Lymph drains in increasingly larger vessels until it reaches the right lymphatic duct or the thoracic duct . The right lymphatic duct drains only the R side of the head, thorax, and RUE, while the thoracic duct drains the rest. The thoracic duct, a continuation of the abdominal cisterna chyli, joins the venous circulation at the junction of the left internal jugular and subclavian veins and the lymphatic duct does the same on the right. Hiatal hernias may either be sliding or paraesophageal. These correspond to common sites of damage from swallowing caustic materials or cancer.