11 - 15 Anatomy SBAs for the Primary FRCA
Question 11
You're stuck in cath lab looking at a wobbly black spider of blood vessels on the fluoroscopy screen, when you get to thinking.
Which of the following best describes the plane of the coronary vessels?
- Intramyocardial
- Endocardial
- Subendocardial
- Pericardial
- Epicardial
Answer
- Epicardial
Coronary arteries usually run in the epicardial plane.
This means the cardiothoracic surgeons can graft them (because they're conveniently located on the surface of the heart) and cardiologists can stent them (as they're not getting squished shut during every systole).
This is also why the subendocardium is most at risk in ischaemia, not the epicardium.