A study on coronary dominance and luminal diameters of major coronary arteries in cadaveric human hearts of the Maharashtra population

The study was undertaken to assess the coronary dominance and variations in luminal diameters of major coronary arteries and to compare the relation between the coronary dominance and variation in luminal diameter and between coronary dominance and number of vessels measuring less than 2.5 mm in diameter, in 75 cadaveric human hearts obtained from the Department of Anatomy from the various medical colleges of western Maharashtra, India. Out of 75 hearts, 58 (77.33%) showed right dominance, 14 (18.67%) showed left dominance and 3 (4%) showed codominant pattern. No significant difference was noted in the luminal diameters of coronary arteries (right coronary artery, marginal artery, posterior interventricular artery, left coronary artery, anterior interventricular branch, circumflex branch) among the dominance type. It was also observed that 63 hearts (84%) showed more than 2 arteries measuring less than 2.5mm in diameter. To conclude, a majority of the population has a right predominance and hence the chances of suffering from coronary artery disease are relatively less, but howe ver 84% of the sample under study had more than two coronary arteries measuring less than 2.5 mm in diameter out of the 6 arteries studied, thus increasing susceptibility of thrombosis in these arteries and therefore increasing the chances of myocardial infarction.