Gross anatomical study on the human myocardial bridges with special reference to the spatial relationship among coronary arteries, cardiac veins, and autonomic nerves.
Coronary arteries are frequently covered by cardiac muscles. This arrangement is termed a myocardial bridge. Previous studies have shown that myocardial bridges can cause myocardial ischemic diseases or cardiac arrhythmia, but the relevant pathogenic mechanisms remain unknown. We examined 60 hearts from Japanese cadavers macroscopically to clarify the spatial relationships among coronary arteries, cardiac veins and autonomic nerves. We found 86 myocardial bridges in 47 hearts from the 60 cadavers examined (78.3%). Next, we dissected out nine hearts with myocardial bridges in detail under the operating microscope. We found no additional branches of coronary arteries on the myocardial bridge surfaces. However, the cardiac veins, which usually accompany the coronary arteries, ran independently on the myocardial bridge surfaces in the same region. Cardiac autonomic nerves comprised two rami: one was associated with the coronary artery under the myocardial bridge and the other ran on the surface of the bridge. Such spatial relationships among the coronary arteries, cardiac veins and cardiac autonomic nerves at the myocardial bridges are quite similar to those in mouse embryo hearts.
Division of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.|Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan.
Yuko
Y
Watanabe
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan.
Takamitsu
T
Arakawa
Department of Anatomy, School of Life Dentistry at Niigata, Nippon Dental University, Niigata, Japan.
Ikuo
I
Kageyama
Department of Anatomy, School of Life Dentistry at Niigata, Nippon Dental University, Niigata, Japan.
Yukio
Y
Aizawa
Department of Physical Therapy, Niigata Graduate School of Rehabilitation, Niigata, Japan.
Katsuji
K
Kumaki
Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Kobe University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe, Japan.
Akinori
A
Miki
Division of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Department of Physiology and Cell Biology, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan.
Toshio
T
Terashima
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D063405:Anatomic Variation; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D054084:Myocardial Bridging
autonomic nerves; cadaver; coronary vessels; heart; myocardial bridging