The lungs have three main fissures: in the right lung, the oblique and horizontal fissure, and in the left lung the oblique fissure. These can be complete, incomplete or absent. “Classical anatomy” textbooks frequently describe pulmonary fissures as complete, although knowledge of their variations is important both for thoracic surgery and to understand the spread of disease. The objective of this study is to assess the frequency and extension of the main pulmonary fissures, as well as to determine the frequency and location of accessory fissures in cadaveric material. An observational descriptive study was carried out and consisted of the dissection of 86 ex-situ lungs (43 right and 43 left lungs) of adult corpses from both sexes previously fixed in formaldehyde solution. The presence of complete, incomplete or absent main fissures and the presence of accessory fissures were assessed. For incomplete fissures, the integrity percentage of the fissure was calculated. In both lungs, incomplete fissures predominated; the oblique fissure of the right lung with a percentage of 65%, the horizontal fissure of 79% and the oblique fissure of the left lung of 58%. Regarding accessory fissures, the overall prevalence was 6%. The anatomy of pulmonary fissures is highly variable. In our study, incomplete fissures predominated in both lungs. There are differences between the studies regarding the prevalence of the completeness of the fissures because, actually, the literature is not concluding.

Introducción: la conformación del sistema venoso ácigos es variable, lo forman las venas ácigos, la hemiácigos y la hemiácigos accesoria. Dispuesto en paralelo respecto a las venas cavas, reviste importancia como vía alternativa, para el retorno venoso hacia el corazón. Materiales y método: 12 cadáveres adultos formolados y 12 tomografías computadas de pacientes adultos de ambos sexos. Se registró: tipo de sistema ácigos (según clasificación de Anson), calibre en origen y terminación de vena ácigos y hemiácigos, nivel vertebral de terminación de cada una. Resultados: 14(58%) casos femeninos, 10(42%) casos masculinos. El tipo II se halló en 14 (58%) casos, distribuido en 9 (38%) casos del subtipo 2A, 3 (12%) casos del subtipo 2B, 1 (4%) caso del subtipo 2D, 1 (4%) caso del subtipo 2C. El tipo III fue encontrado en 9 (38%) casos. Se encontró 1 (4%) caso tipo I. El calibre promedio del origen de vena ácigos fue 4,2mm (2mm-7,7mm), y de la vena hemiácigos fue de 3mm (2mm-6,9mm). El calibre de terminación de la vena ácigos fue 8,3mm (4,2mm-10,3mm), Para la vena hemiácigos fue de 4,9mm (3,3mm-7,2mm).  El nivel vertebral de terminación medio de la vena ácigos fue T4 con 14 (58%) casos y de la vena hemiácigos T8 con 8 (28,5%) casos. Conclusión: el tipo de sistema ácigos es variable, y no se correlaciona con lo descrito por autores clásicos, pero si con autores contemporáneos. Hay gran correlación con distintos autores sobre los niveles vertebrales de terminación de vena ácigos, hemiácigos y hemiácigos accesoria.

Introduction: Coronary anomalies, whose incidence is 0.17 to 1.5%, are relevant since they can debut as sudden cardiac death and can determine technical difficulties in interventional procedures such as coronary angiography. This prompted the following study, whose objective is to determine the incidence of anomalies and anatomical variants in the origin and proximal course of the coronary arteries, in a cadaveric population. Materials and methods: 81 hearts were dissected from adult cadavers, of both sexes, previously fixed and preserved in a 10% formaldehyde-based solution. Once the heart was released, the identification and subsequent dissection of the coronary arteries and coronary ostia were carried out. The following data were recorded: number of ostiums, aortic sinus where said ostiums are located, artery that gives origin, route and direction of the same. The data were recorded in tables for later analysis. Results: Of the total of 81 dissected hearts, 45 (55.6%) presented “classic” coronary arteries in origin and proximal path and 36 (44.4%) presented normal anatomical variants and coronary anomalies. Conclusions: Knowledge of coronary anomalies is of the utmost importance, given that between 20% to 90% present with sudden cardiac death and given that when it comes to performing interventional procedures, their ignorance may determine an increase in the duration of the procedures with greater contrast input and radiation exposure for the patient.

The aim of this study was to describe danger zones between the tricuspid annulus and the coronary sinus and the right coronary artery to be considered during tricuspid interventions. Methods: 36 hearts from human adult corpses were dissected. We measured the distance between the middle third of the anterosuperior (anterior) leaflet to the right coronary artery (distance 1), between the anteroinferior (anteroposterior) commissure to right coronary artery (distance 2), between the middle third of inferior (posterior) leaflet to the right coronary artery (distance 3) and between the middle third of the septal leaflet to the ostium of the coronary sinus (distance 4). Distances were compared between right and left coronary dominance. The average distance 1 was 5,32 mm (1-11 mm), the average distance 2 was 3,07 mm (0.5-7 mm), the average distance 3 was 2,53 mm (0.5-12 mm) and the average distance 4 was 8,55 mm (2.5-18 mm). 31 hearts had right dominance, 4 left dominance and 1 co-dominance. We found no statistically significant differences between hearts with right and left coronary dominance at either D1 (5.26±2.55 mm vs 6.62±1.80 mm, p=0.213) or D4 (8.55±3.91 mm vs 11.62±0.95 mm, p=0.064). The highest risk area of injuring the right coronary artery corresponds to the posterior annulus (distance 3). In hearts with left dominance, tricuspid annulus has a safer distance to the right coronary artery and coronary sinus and therefore may present a lower risk of right coronary artery involvement in surgical and endovascular procedures.