An Anatomical Study of Human Coronary Arteries in North Eastern Indian Population

Abstract

Coronary artery diseases are increasing in India in recent years and have in fact superseded the western countries to attain an epidemic proportion. Emergency angioplasties work much better than a drug alone which cuts the risk of death and major complications by about 40%. The two coronary arteries in the heart are subepicardial in location except at few places where these may be covered by myocardial loops and bands. Gross anatomical as well as in vitro coronary angiograms with barium sulphate emulsion were done in 80 adult specimens of heart. Congenital anomalies of arteries are less observed in adult specimens in comparison to still-born and neonatal deaths. In only 2% cases, the right coronary artery showed “high take-off” origin while another 2% showed multiple coronary ostia. Eighty-six percent of hearts revealed right dominance. In 10% cases, the right coronary artery(RCA) ends at the left side of the crux while the left coronary artery(LCA) in 70% cases passes posteriorly over the posterior interventricular groove to terminate at a variable distance from the apex. The left circumflex artery in 78% cases terminates at the left margin or between left margin and crux and in 22% cases reaches or passes the crux. Branches of coronary arteries can be grouped into atrial and ventricular. The sino-atrial (SA) nodal and atrio-ventricular (AV) nodal arteries originate from the RCA in a majority of cases. Anatomical factors have minor role in development of CAD in India.