How important or critical is the left anterior descending artery to the heart as a whole?

Question

How important or critical is the left anterior descending artery to the heart as a whole?

Answer 1

The first answer is pretty accurate. Except, a "widow maker" lesion is in the Left Main Coronary Artery. This is the artery that supplies the LAD and oher coronaries.

Answer 2

It is very important because it generally is a large artery that tends to supply  blood to the entire anterior surface of the heart as well a major chunks of the conduction system amd wall dividing the right from the left ventricle.  It is possible to survive heart attacks involving this artery but complications such as heart failure and heart block are fairly common.  Fatal heart attacks are also common enough when they involve the LAD that it has been nicknamed the "widow maker."  The outcome depends to a big degree on whether the narrowing is at the very origin of the artery so that all of its downstream territory is in jeopardy or whether the lesion is in the middle ot terminal part of the artery where blockages cause much less damage to heart muscle.

Answer 3

http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_how_the...