The functional anatomy of the human coronary sinus.

The human coronary sinus is an important part of the cardiac venous system that serves as an anatomic landmark as well as a conduit for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. We studied 50 human coronary sinuses of hearts of normal and increased cardiac weight in order to ascertain various functional anatomic features of the coronary sinus and differences between hearts of normal and increased weight. In the hearts of normal weight (195 to 300 gm) the Thebesian valve covered the ostium of the coronary sinus an average of 41%, with complete coverage in 20%. The valve of Vieussens covered the origin of the coronary sinus an average of 59%. The average volume of the coronary sinus was 1.26 +/- 0.45 cc. In hearts of increased weight (365 to 675 gm), the Thebesian valve covered the ostium an average of 26% and the valve of Vieussens covered the origin of the coronary sinus an average of 56.5%. The average volume of the coronary sinus was increased to 1.76 +/- 0.73 cc (p less than 0.005). Thus knowledge of these functional anatomic features and the differences in hearts of increased cardiac weight allows for better utilization of the human coronary sinus for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.