Bifurcation asymmetry of the porcine coronary vasculature and its implications on coronary flow heterogeneity

The branching pattern of the coronary arteries and veins is asymmetric, i.e., many small vessels branch off of a large trunk such that the two daughter vessels at a bifurcation are of unequal diameters and lengths. One important implication of the geometric vascular asymmetry is the dispersion of blood flow at a bifurcation, which leads to large spatial heterogeneity of myocardial blood flow. To document the asymmetric branching pattern of the coronary vessels, we computed an asymmetry ratio for the diameters and lengths of all vessels, defined as the ratio of the daughter diameters and lengths, respectively. Previous data from silicone elastomer cast of the entire coronary vasculature including arteries, arterioles, venules, and veins were analyzed. Data on smaller vessels were obtained from histological specimens by optical sectioning, whereas data on larger vessels were obtained from vascular casts. Asymmetry ratios for vascular areas, volumes, resistances, and flows of the various daughter vessels were computed from the asymmetry ratios of diameters and lengths for every order of mother vessel. The results show that the largest orders of arterial and venous vessels are most asymmetric and the degree of asymmetry decreases toward the smaller vessels. Furthermore, the diameter asymmetry at a bifurcation is significantly larger for the coronary veins (1.7-6.8 for sinus veins) than the corresponding arteries (1.5-5.8 for left anterior descending coronary artery) for orders 2-10, respectively. The reported diameter asymmetry at a bifurcation leads to significant heterogeneity of blood flow at a bifurcation. Hence, the present data quantify the dispersion of blood flow at a bifurcation and are essential for understanding flow heterogeneity in the coronary circulation.