title: Intersection patterns of human coronary veins and arteries.
abstract: Intersections between the coronary veins (CV) and arteries (CA) of 103 adult human hearts were mapped on the heart surface. Then the correlations of these intersection patterns to their localization were studied. Eight spots were selected where one of four major CV (anterior cardiac vein, middle cardiac vein, left posterior ventricular vein, and great cardiac vein) intersected with one of CA and their branches (right coronary artery, posterior interventricular branch, left posterior ventricular branch, circumflex branch, diagonal branch, and anterior interventricular branch). The great cardiac vein (GCV) ran beneath the anterior interventricular branch in 56 specimens out of 103, beneath the diagonal branch in 75 specimens out of 103, and beneath the circumflex branch in 36 specimens out of 103, while the other CV mostly ran over CA. The present observations suggest that the CV on the right side may be formed prior to CA, while the CV on the left side may be formed simultaneously with CA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Akita University School of Medicine, Akita, Japan. ishizawa@med.akita-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Akimitsu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ishizawa
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fumon
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ryoji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002196:Capillaries / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D003326:Coronary Circulation; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004210:Dissection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014680:Veins / Q000033:anatomy & histology*