Human heart, anatomical artwork. The heart is a hollow muscular organ that pumps blood around the body. This view is of the front of the heart. The thin blood vessels on the surface of the heart are the coronary blood vessels, supplying the heart muscle with oxygen. The major blood vessels that carry blood to and from the heart are white. At upper left and lower left are the branches of the vena cava vein, bringing deoxygenated blood to the heart. This blood is pumped to the lungs through the pulmonary artery (upper centre), and returns to the heart through the pulmonary vein (upper right, not clearly seen). The oxygenated blood from the lungs is pumped around the body through the aortic arch (between the upper vena cava and the pulmonary artery).