NEW ASPECTS CONCERNING THE MORPHOLOGY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF CORONARY MUSCLE BRIDGES

Intramural courses of the coronary arteries in the sense of coronary m uscle bridges are frequent autopsy findings, whereas only the more pro nounced forms are accessible to clinicoangiographic detection. Functio nal significance is attributable to morphologic forms that show a pron ounced intramural course and to those exhibiting quantitative cross-se ctional changes. In addition to the known morphometric findings in the case of coronary muscle bridges, we found a stenosis-like narrowing o f intramurally coursing arteries without alterations of the intima. We observed such quantitative coronary artery findings in four cases wit h different causes of death, and in this paper we discuss the possible functional significance of this special type of coronary muscle bridg e.