Morphometry and cardiac anatomical surgical segmentation in goats / Morfometria e segmentação arterial do coração de caprinos

ABSTRACT

Background: Although surgeries that remove of part of the heart wall are not yet part of veterinary and human surgical routine, experimental studies can indicate this practice in cases where alterations are identified in the heart morphology, with the determination of the heart segments that are part of the organ with independent vascularization and irrigation. In this context, the objective of the present study was to describe the anatomic surgical segmentation of the goat heart and supply biometric data on the heart to enrich data on the heart morphology of this species. Materials, Methods &Results: Twenty-six hearts were used from crossbred goats, ten to assess the topographical relations of the heart and morphological description of the organ; ten hearts were weighed on 0.01 g precision semi-analytical scales, measured with a pachymeter and later Agar-Agar was injected in the cavities which were sectioned crosswise to establish the volumetric proportion of the heart components, applying a point counting grid to the base surfaces; in three hearts natural latex was injected in the coronary arteries, that were later dissected, and red-stained vinyl acetate was injected in three, corroded in acid to make vascular molds and these two groups were used to define the irrigation territories of the coronary arteries, identifying the anatomic surgical units among the animals[...]