Location of Communications between Cognate Bed of Descending Ramus of Left Coronary and Adjacent Collateral Vascular Beds. ∗

Summary and conclusion

The frequent failure to obtain infarcts and the variability in the size of the infarcts which follow ligation of a coronary artery in the dog suggest the presence of prominent anastomotic communications with collateral vascular beds. To determine whether these communications were in deep or superficial vessels, the consistency of infarction with simple coronary ligation was compared with the infarction which resulted from coronary ligation plus occlusion of the superficial vessels by cauterization about the cognate bed of the ligated vessels. Since the latter procedure produced infarctions of predictable size in all of the 17 dogs so treated, which survived for 24 hours or longer, it is concluded that the principal anastomotic communications with collateral vessels lie in the epicardium.

It is suggested that ligation plus superficial cauterization may be of definite value in providing a fairly well standardized procedure for the experimental study of myocardial infarction.