Origin of anterior interventricular vein blood in domestic swine.

This study tested the hypothesis that anterior interventricular vein effluent of domestic swine is composed primarily of blood draining the perfusion territory of the left anterior descending coronary artery. As a corollary, the extent to which circumflex and right coronary inflow contributes to anterior interventricular vein outflow also was determined. Experiments were conducted in vitro with buffer-perfused swine hearts in which anterior interventricular vein flow was measured under various combinations of left anterior descending and circumflex coronary perfusion. Studies also were performed in vivo in different groups of intact swine with normal, stenosed, and occluded left anterior descending coronary artery. The results of the study confirm the hypothesis and demonstrate under a variety of conditions that at least 90% of anterior interventricular vein effluent is derived from blood originating from myocardium perfused by the left anterior descending coronary artery.