Articles
Articles are a collaborative effort to provide a single canonical page on all topics relevant to the practice of radiology. As such, articles are written and continuously improved upon by countless contributing members. Our dedicated editors oversee each edit for accuracy and style. Find out more about articles.
133 results found
Article
Pericardial fat pads
Pericardial fat pads are normal adipose tissue masses that lie in the cardiophrenic angles and straddle the pericardium as they are derived from both epicardial fat and epipericardial fat, the latter being adherent and external to the parietal pericardium. Fat pads are more prominent in obese pa...
Article
Pericardium
The pericardium is a conical, flask-like, fibroserous sac which contains the heart and the roots of the great vessels and defines the middle mediastinum.
Gross anatomy
The pericardium is made of two sacs in one. The outer sac is the fibrous pericardium and the inner sac is the double-layered ...
Article
Development of the heart
The heart is one of the first organs in the developing embryo to form and function. By the start of week 4, a primitive heart has begun to pump blood and by week 7 most of the gross development of the heart is complete. Its development is complex, with several events occurring simultaneously.
T...
Article
Polysplenia syndrome
Polysplenia syndrome, also known as left isomerism, is a type of heterotaxy syndrome where there are multiple spleens congenitally as part of left-sided isomerism.
Epidemiology
Polysplenia is seen predominantly in female patients. It is usually diagnosed in childhood or adulthood, later than a...
Article
Interarterial course of the left coronary artery
An interarterial course of the left coronary artery is defined as the origination of the left main or left anterior descending coronary artery from the right coronary sinus of Valsalva, with a course between the ascending aorta and the pulmonary artery trunk.
Terminology
An interarterial cour...
Article
Sinoatrial node
The sinoatrial node (SA node), rarely also spelled sinuatrial node, is a group of specialized pacemaker cells that controls the rate of the heart.
Summary
location: upper wall of the right atrium, at the junction where the superior vena cava enters
blood supply: sinoatrial nodal artery
inner...
Article
Anomalous course of coronary arteries
Anomalous course of a coronary artery is a type of congenital coronary artery anomaly. It may represent a benign and incidental finding, but rarely it is a malignant course predisposing patients to life-threatening myocardial ischemia or arrhythmias, depending on where the artery runs.
Clinica...
Article
Innervation of the heart
The heart has extrinsic and intrinsic innervation, which allows the heart to continue beating if its nerve supply is disrupted (e.g. in cardiac transplant).
The extrinsic supply is from parasympathetic (from the vagus nerve) and sympathetic nerves from both the superficial and deep cardiac plex...
Article
Gap junctions
Gap junctions are aggregates of narrow water-filled intercellular channels that connect cells' cytoplasms and allow direct cell–cell transfer of ions and small molecules such as calcium and cyclic AMP, but not large molecules such as proteins 1.
They connect virtually all cells in solid tissues...
Article
Purkinje fibers
Purkinje fibers are a network of specialized, glycogen-rich cells with extensive gap junctions. The glycogen can be metabolized anaerobically which may make Purkinje cells more resistant to hypoxia than working myocardial cells.
These cells are located on the subendocardial surface of the ventr...
Article
Triangle of Koch
The triangle of Koch or Koch’s triangle is an important landmark for atrioventricular catheter ablation procedures for the localization of the atrioventricular node.
Gross anatomy
From a right atrial viewpoint, the triangle of Koch is delineated by the hinge of the septal tricuspid valve leafl...
Article
Coronary veins
The coronary veins return deoxygenated blood from the myocardium back to the right atrium. Most venous blood returns via the coronary sinus. Coronary venous anatomy is highly variable, but is generally comprised of three groups:
cardiac veins which drain into the coronary sinus:
great cardiac ...
Article
Venae cordis minimae
The venae cordis minimae (singular: vena cordis minima), meaning "smallest cardiac veins", also known as Thebesian veins (variably capitalized in the literature) are a small group of valveless myocardial coronary veins within the walls of each of the four cardiac chambers that drain venous blood...
Article
Middle cardiac vein
The middle cardiac vein or posterior interventricular vein is a vein of the heart which accompanies the posterior interventricular artery. It courses in the posterior interventricular groove and drains directly into the coronary sinus close to it’s termination. It drains the posterior wall of bo...
Article
Point-of-care ultrasound (curriculum)
The point-of-care ultrasound (PoCUS) curriculum is one of our curriculum articles and aims to be a collection of articles that represent the core applications of ultrasonography in a point-of-care setting.
Point-of-care ultrasound refers to ultrasonography which may be simultaneously performed,...
Article
Kommerell diverticulum
Kommerell diverticula occur in some anomalies of the aortic arch system. It usually refers to the bulbous configuration of the origin of an aberrant left subclavian artery in the setting of a right-sided aortic arch. However, it was originally described as a diverticular outpouching at the origi...
Article
Cardiac position
The cardiac position in the thorax may be described as:
levocardia: left-sided heart
dextrocardia: right-sided heart
mesocardia: midline heart
These terms purely describe the anatomic position of the left ventricular apex in the chest and their use does not indicate anything about the struct...
Article
Pericardial recesses
The pericardial recesses are small spaces in the pericardial cavity formed by reflections of the pericardium.
Gross anatomy
Pericardial fluid can pool in these recesses and can be categorized by whether they arise from the transverse sinus, the oblique sinus, or the pericardial cavity proper 3...
Article
Cardiac plexus
The cardiac plexus is a network of autonomic nerves and ganglia situated at the base of the heart. It is formed by cardiac branches derived from both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Gross anatomy
Parasympathetic cardiac nerves reach the heart from the vagus nerve (cranial ...
Article
Pericardial ligaments
The pericardial ligaments is a name given to a group of variable fibrous ligaments or adhesions that connect the pericardium to adjacent structures. These ‘ligaments’ tether the fibrous pericardium to its surrounds, hence movements of the chest wall and diaphragm influence the position of the he...
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