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The coronary circulation

  • Chapter
Cardiac Output and Regional Flow in Health and Disease

Part of the book series: Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine ((DICM,volume 138))

Abstract

The primary function of the coronary circulation is to supply the heart’s metabolic needs. Thus, any discussion of the physiology of the coronary circulation must begin by emphasizing the unusually close relationship between myocardial metabolism and perfusion. Figure 30.1 schematically illustrates this relationship. Because the heart has a limited and short-lived capacity for anaerobic metabolism, its steady-state metabolic needs can be considered solely in terms of oxidative metabolism. Myocardial oxygen uptake can be expressed as the product of coronary blood flow and the coronary arterial-venous oxygen difference. One unique feature of the coronary circulation is its high degree of oxygen extraction under basal conditions. Normally, about 65% of the oxygen in coronary arterial blood is removed in its passage through the myocardial capillary bed; little additional oxygen can be removed from this blood. Accordingly, changes in myocardial oxygen demand require changes in coronary flow that are quantitatively similar.

The authors thank April L. Jackson for careful preparation in this manuscript.

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Authors
  1. William P. Santamore
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  2. William J. Corin
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiology, Central Middlesex Hospital, London, UK

    Abdul-Majeed Salmasi

  2. Presbyterian Medical Center, Philadelphia Heart Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Abdulmassih S. Iskandrian

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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Santamore, W.P., Corin, W.J. (1993). The coronary circulation. In: Salmasi, AM., Iskandrian, A.S. (eds) Cardiac Output and Regional Flow in Health and Disease. Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine, vol 138. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1848-4_30

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1848-4_30

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4816-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-1848-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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