Morphological importance of coronary ostia in equine.

The position of the coronary ostia was investigated in 70 segments of the aorta from young adult crossbred horses. After fixation with a 4% buffered aqueous formaldehyde solution and cautious dissection of the aortic bulb, the morphometric relationships between the coronary ostium and the aortic valvar elements were digitally analysed with the support of Image-Pro Plus® software. In horses, the left coronary ostium was near to the right valvular commissure in all cases (100%) analysed in this study.

Morphological importance of coronary ostia in sheep and swine.

The aortic valve was investigated in 58 sheep and 60 swine without heart disease. After fixation in 4% formalin, the distance between the ostia and the elements of the right/left aortic sinuses was measured. For the left coronary ostium (LCO), it was found that in sheep 81% were below and 19% at the level of intercomissural line (IL).