Sentence:  The intimal surface of the <WSD>aorta</WSD> was covered with confluent , yellow-brown , hard , friable plaques along its entire course , and there was a marked narrowing of the orifices of the large major visceral arteries . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  the large trunk artery that carries blood from the left ventricle of the heart to branch arteries