Morphological Variations in the Branching Pattern of Left Coronary Artery in Adult Human Hearts using Silicon Cast Method

Abstract

The knowledge of variations in the branching pattern of Left Coronary artery is an important factor in the

study of coronary heart disease and mostly it is the left which is commonly involved. With the adaptation

of sedentary life style and increasing stress, Coronary artery disease has become the major cause of death

and coronary angiography is has become a routine for cardiologists & radiologists. This study is done to

determine the branching pattern, mean length and mean outer diameter of the trunk of the Left Coronary

artery using Silicon Cast technique. A Plastinate material that is Silicon is used in this study for luminal

casts, this is first of its kind in India and it’s a new innovative technique for studying the arterial patterns.

The present study was carried out in 110 fresh hearts, 90 males and 20 females with a mean age of 66.0

years, which were collected from the mortuary of the Forensic department of Mysore Medical College and

JSS Medical College, Mysore, South India for a period of 2 years. The Silicone material was injected into

the Coronary arteries; the cast was removed and the fine branching pattern of the left Coronary artery was

studied and measured using Vernier digital calipers. The left Coronary artery arose from the left posterior

aortic sinus in most number of cases. The mean outer diameter of the trunk at the point of origin was

3.51±0.71 (range 2 – 5.8mm). The mean length of the trunk of left Coronary artery was 10.04 ± 3.27 mm

(range 4-18.5mm). Most of the branching pattern was bifurcation (62.72 %) and trifurcation (33.63%) was

observed, tetrafurcation was found to be in 3.63% of cases only, no cases of pentafurcation was seen .This

study will help in interventional studies by cardiologist and radiologists during diagnostic and therapeutic

approach in Coronary vascular diseases.