THE THEBESIAN VESSELS AS A SOURCE OF NOURISHMENT FOR THE MYOCARDIUM

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Abstract
Bismuth was conveyed from the heart chambers into the coronary sinus blood in the beating heart of dog with the coronary circula-tion isolated from the systemic, in 7 of 10 exps. In 2 cases the possibility of any connection between the systemic and the coronary blood by means of extra-cardiac anastomoses was excluded by perfusing directly into the coronary arteries. In preparations of beating hearts with a completely isolated coronary circulation a suspension of a pure culture of killed bacteria was in-jected into the superior vena cava. The same bacteria could be demonstrated in the sinusoidal spaces, the capillaries, the small intramural arteries and veins, the superficial branches of the coronary arteries and veins, and also in the blood from the coronary sinus. These ex-periments, therefore, indicate that the Thebesian ves-sels do form a pathway in the functioning heart by which blood can be conveyed from the heart chambers to the intramural coronary vessels. Under normal conditions the amount of blood conveyed by this pathway appears to be comparatively small, but in some pathological con-ditions where the coronary arteries are occluded enough blood may find its way into the coronary capillaries to aid appreciably in the nourishment of the heart.

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