ATI Pathophysiology Practice Exam

The first major structure that blood enters after leaving the left ventricle is the aorta. The left ventricle is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood that has just returned from the pulmonary circulation into the aorta, which is the largest artery in the body. From the aorta, blood is then distributed to the systemic circulation to supply organs and tissues with oxygen and nutrients.

The pulmonary artery carries deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the lungs, which occurs on the opposite side of the heart. The left atrium is where oxygenated blood enters after it returns from the lungs, but it is not where blood exits the left ventricle. The coronary artery branches off the aorta and supplies blood specifically to the heart muscle itself, but it is not the first structure blood encounters after it leaves the left ventricle. Therefore, the function and location of the aorta make it the correct answer to this question.