Which vessels carry oxygenated blood to the heart muscle?

• A. Coronary Arteries
• B. Pulmonary Arteries
• C. Systemic Veins
• D. Vena Cava

Answer: (A)

Vessels that nourish the heart muscle, or myocardium, are the coronary arteries. They branch off the aorta and deliver oxygen-rich blood directly to the heart tissue, meeting its high metabolic demands. The other vessels listed don’t perform that role: the pulmonary arteries carry blood to the lungs and are part of the circulation that delivers relatively deoxygenated blood to the lungs, not to the heart muscle. Systemic veins and the vena cava bring deoxygenated blood back to the heart from the body, rather than supplying oxygen to the heart muscle itself. (For completeness, the coronary veins return deoxygenated blood from the heart muscle to the right atrium via the coronary sinus.)