Morphometric Study of Left Coronary Artery Trunk in Adult Human Cadavers: A Study on the Eastern Region Population

Abstract

The left coronary artery shows a wide range of morphological variations which has great clinical importance. Difficulties may occur during performance of diagnostic procedures, especially in patients who undergo evaluation of percutaneous coronary interventions or during coronary artery surgeries or prosthetic valve replacements. Even, it has been found that short length of main left coronary artery was one of the congenital factors which predisposed to the development of coronary artery disease. The aim of this work was to determine the variations in the origin, length and divisions of the left coronary artery trunk in the eastern region population of India. The present study was carried out on 100 heart samples which were collected from a mixed race population group from West Bengal, India, after preserving them in 10% formalin solution. While carefully maintaining all standard precautions, scientifically well-planned cadaveric dissections were done and variations were noted. It was found that in all specimens, left coronary artery arose from single ostia at the left posterior aortic sinus. In about 65% cases, ostia was below or at the sinotubular junction (STJ) and in a significant number (35%) of cases, it is above the level of STJ. The mean length of the left coronary artery trunk was found to be 11.42 ± 4.98 mm. LMCA were bifurcated in 56% cases, they were trifurcated in 40% cases and they were tetrafurcated in 2% cases. The results were compared with those of other studies, which showed considerable variations. Thus, this morphometric study done on left coronary artery trunk in the eastern Indian population will be helpful for interventional cardiologists and radiologists for avoiding inadvertent vascular trauma during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.