Functional dominance of the right coronary artery: incidence in the human heart.

After injection of radiopaque medium, 200 human hearts were studied by direct observation and x-ray analysis. The right coronary artery (RC) was dominant in 178 of these hearts as characterized by giving off the typical posterior interventricular artery (PIV), the posterior descending artery. Within this group, 19 specimens had right coronary arteries that gave off both a large posterior interventricular artery (LPIV) and a branch that continued beyond the crux termed a large extension of the right coronary (LERC).

Posterior right diagonal artery.

Background: There is general confusion about a branch of the posterior segment of the right coronary artery that has been referred to as 1) the lower trunk of a divided right coronary artery; 2) a posterior reflection of the right marginal artery; 3) the ramus lateralis; and 4) a posterolateral branch or a posterior descending artery.

Materials: Three hundred human hearts were studied by direct observation, X-ray films, and corrosion casting.

Results: This branch of the right coronary artery arises either after the right marginal artery (in 84% of hearts) or it constitutes the continuation of this artery in the remaining 16%.