ABSTRACT
To measure the wall thickness of major coronary arteries in Pakistani population, through micrometry. An observational study. Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi, Khyber Medical College Peshawar and District Headquarter Hospital, Rawalpindi, in collaboration with Departments of Anatomy and Pathology, Army Medical College Rawalpindi. The duration of study was six months with effect from September 2009 to March 2010. After incising pericardium, 1mm long segments of major coronary arteries i.e. right coronary artery [RCA], left anterior descending artery [LAD] and left circumflex artery [LCX] were taken 1cm distal to their origin, from adult male cadavers of up to 40 years age. After processing for paraffin embedding, 5microm thick sections were prepared, mounted on glass slides and subsequently stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin [H and E] for routine histological study. Verhoeff's elastic stain was used to make the elastic lamina more prominent. Wall thickness for each section was measured through micrometry, circumferentially at eight different places along the planes at 45§ to each other and then their mean taken as a reading for the respective artery. The total wall thickness of major coronary arteries and of the individual tunicae was less in Pakistani population. The mean thickness of RCA was 0.61 +/- 0.05 mm; LAD had mean thickness of 0.55 +/- 0.06 mm whereas that of LCX was 0.66 +/- 0.13 mm. The mean thickness of tunica intima of RCA was noted to be 0.230 +/- 0.044 mm; tunica media measured 0.205 +/- 0.031 mm whereas tunica adventitia was 0.172 +/- 0.023 mm thick. The mean thickness of tunica intima of LAD measured 0.156 +/- 0.032 mm; tunica media was observed to be 0.224 +/- 0.026 mm thick whereas the tunica adventitia was 0.170 +/- 0.032 mm thick. The mean thickness of tunica intima of LCX was observed to be 0.203 +/- 0.059 mm; tunica media to be 0.282 +/- 0.097 mm whereas that of tunica adventitia was noted to be 0.179 +/- 0.037 mm. The normal mean values of total wall thickness and of each of the individual tunica of coronary arterial wall in Pakistani population are lower than those reported in international literature. This might be due to geographic and / or ethnic variations in the histological structure of coronary arterial wall