Application to Coronary Arteries of the Basic Principles Governing the Development of Collateral Arterial Channels

Abstract

The experiments performed on 350 dogs showed that when certain technical points were observed, a pedicle containing the mammary artery, mammary vein, and surrounding soft tissue consistently contributed large collateral channels which were capable of carrying the entire arterial blood supply to a large portion of the left ventricle of the heart of a dog with experimental chronic coronary arterial hypotension. Original plastic devices were used to produce controlled, gradual, coronary constrictions and occlusions. Direction and velocity of movement and size of the donor arteries, the collateral channels, and the recipient coronary arteries were determined from frame-by-frame analysis of cinearteriograms.