A CADAVERIC STUDY ON CORONARY PREPONDERANCE

Background: Knowledge of coronary preponderance is important to understand coronary artery diseases, interpret the findings and plan the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. It influences the amount and anatomic location of myocardium that is perfused by the left or right coronary circulation. The aim of the present study is to observe the origin of posterior interventricular artery which determines the coronary preponderance or dominance. Materials and Methods: The study was done on 50 formalin fixed adult heart specimens in the Department of Anatomy, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute irrespective of age, sex, socio-economic status, religion and education status. The coronary arteries were examined by gross dissection and analyzed statistically. Results: Right preponderance was seen in 31(62%) hearts, left preponderance in 11 (22%) hearts and balanced or codominance was seen in 8(16%) hearts. Discussion: The coronary artery dominance has an important clinical significance.Most of the studies have reported a higher percentage of right preponderance including the present study. Results of the present study was compared statistically with the study done by Hirak Das et al (n=70). On comparison right dominance was statistically insignificant ( z = 0.91, p = 0.36 ), left dominance was statistically insignificant ( z = 0.46 , p = 0.64 ),and balanced pattern was also statistically insignificant ( z = 0.82 , p = 0.41 ) Conclusion: The present study on coronary dominance would be of use to the cardiologist and interventional radiologist to predefine the abnormalities by invasive and non invasive studies.