ABSTRACT
The frequency of the blood supply of the right ventricle papillary muscles was studied in 41 humans heartsinjected with a vinyl acetate solution. The anterior interventricular branch (AIV), right marginal branch (RM) and posterior interventricular branch (PIV) were injected with different colors and correlated with the arterial segments of the heart (I SV, II DV and III DV) supplied by each one of those arteries. The anterior and posterior papillary muscles received blood from the three arterial segments. The artery of the segment I SV supplied the anterior papillary muscle in 56.09 (per cent) of the cases. The posterior papillary muscle was supplied by the artery of the segment II DV in 34.14 (per cent) of the cases. The anterior group of the septal papillary muscle was supplied by the artery of the segment I SV in all cases. When the posterior group of septal papillary muscle was present (29 cases), the blood supply came from the arteries of the three segments, with major contribution from the arteries of the segments I SV (31.03 per cent) and III DV (51.72 per cent). The most frequent associations observed were the segments I SV and II DV supplying the anterior papillary muscle (24.39 per cent) and segments II DV and III DV supplying the posterior papillary muscle (24.39 per cent).