STUDY ON THE AREA OF THE LATISSIMUS DORSI MUSCLE SUPPLIED BY THE THORACODORSAL ARTERY AIMING AT CARDIOMYOPLASTY

Abstract

For cardiac assistance using skeletal muscles, wrapping the heart with the latissimus dorsi muscle is mainly used. When making a latissimus dorrsi muscle graft, only the thoracodorsal artery is preserved. Using 3 anatomic cadavers, we examined whether the entire blood circulation of the graft can be maintained with the thoracodorsal artery alone by measuring the ratio of the area supplied by the artery to the entire area. The area supplied by the thoracodorsal artery occupied about 25% of the entire area. Collateral circulation in the remaining area may be a study subject hereafter.