Coronary circulation

Coronary circulation

Arterial supply to the heart (red), with other areas labelled (blue).

Main article: Coronary circulation

Cardiomyocytes, like all other cells, need to be supplied with oxygen, nutrients and a way of removing metabolic wastes. This is achieved by the coronary circulation. The coronary circulation cycles in peaks and troughs correlating to the heart muscle's relaxation or contraction.^[7]

Coronary arteries supply oxygen-rich blood to the heart and the coronary veins remove the deoxygenated blood. There is a left and a right coronary arterysupplying the left and right hearts respectively, and the septa. Smaller branches of these arteries anastomose, which in other parts of the body serve to divert blood due to a blockage. In the heart these are very small and cannot form other interconnections with the result that a coronary artery blockage can cause a myocardial infarction and with it, tissue damage.^[7]

The great cardiac vein receives the major branches of the posterior, middle, and small cardiac veins and drains into thecoronary sinus, a large vein that empties into the right atrium. The anterior cardiac veins drain the front of the right ventricle and drain directly into the right atrium.^[7]