ANATOMICAL STUDY OF THE MYOCARDIAL BRIDGES

Abstract

Myocardial bridging is a congenital anomaly, in which an epicardial coronary artery lies in the myocardium for part of its course. The bridged segment of the coronary artery is susceptible to various pathophysiological mechanisms leading to myocardial ischemia, especially when associated with other cardio vascular diseases. Recently , myocardial bridges have become a main topic of interest owing to its probable causation of sudden cardiac deaths in young athletes. The aim of this study is to provide more information on the arteries with myocardial bridges, the length of the bridged segment , histopathological findings and the relative conco dance or discordance between cadaveric and radiologic studies. Fifty formalin fixed hearts were dissected . Myocardial bridges were found in 18 (36) hearts with a total of about 28 bridges. Most common artery involved was the anterior inter ventricular artery, which even had multiple bridges over it. The mean length of the bridges was 26.54mm. Of the five tunneled arterial segments studied histologically, all had normal features of a muscular artery . The incidence of myocardial bridges were highest in cadaveric and CT Angiographic studies, but least in conventional angiographic studies.