ABSTRACT
The major venous drainage system of the human heart consists of four intercommunicat ing parts which generally open into the right atrium.3 Very frequently the terminal veins of each drainage system are intramurally widened to form spaces, collectors, or sinuses, before emptying into the right atrium.5 Among these collectors the cs, which is the main structure in the left posterior portion of the coronary sulcus, is of functional predominance. It collects the major cardiac veins: the great vein, the left marginal vein, the posterior vein of the left ventricle and the middle and small cardiac veins. In addition there are the oblique and the posterior veins of the left atrium, both of which empty into the cs.2,9,21
These major cardiac veins carry out, almost exclusively, the drainage of two-thirds of the left ventricular myocardium; they do not, however, drain the superior part of the interventricu lar septum, nor the myocardium of the right atrium and ventricle or the myocardium of the roof of the left atrium. In view of the fact that individual microanatomical conditions have to be taken into consideration when a catheter-tip is inserted into the coronary sinus,14,15’17 it is the purpose of the present Chapter to clarify the anatomical situation of the cs and its tributar ies so as to minimize the instances of failure of the technical procedure, damage, and hemor rhage of the endocardial-myocardial-endothelial complex.3,5,12
Material and Methods This study was based on the examination of 240 human hearts, aged between 64 and 88
years, of which 132 were male and 108 female. After fixation the arteries and veins were injected with red and blue gelatin respectively.
