Morphometry of Aortic and Pulmonary Valves

Abstract

Works on the identification of regularities and features of the structure of heart valves are important for the development of anatomy as a fundamental biomedical science, and are of importance for cardiology and cardiac surgery, where they can be used in the diagnosis and treatment of heart diseases. Objective was to clarify the normal anatomy of the aortic and pulmonary valves (AV, PV) by measuring their linear dimensions. Materials and methods. We studied 16 AVs and 11 PVs preserved in 10 % formalin obtained from the hearts of humans died from non-cardiac causes. We spread out specimens on flexible polymeric plates, fixed with needles. We measured the sizes of the sinuses and interleaflet triangles (ILT) in the photographs in the ImageJ program. The presence and position of leaflet nodules were assessed. Results. The sinuses of the AV had the same width (average 26.18 mm), but differed in depth. The left sinus had the least depth. The PV sinuses had the same width (average 15.8 mm) and did not differ from each other in depth. AV and PV showed the sinuses of the same depth, but the sinuses of AV were found to be wider. AV and PV demonstrated the same height of the MT. In AV, the anterior MT was the narrowest ((21.21±0.20) mm). In the PV, the posterior MT was the widest ((30.26±0.20) mm). Nodules on the semilunar leaflets of both valves occurred at different frequencies and were located either in the center of the free margin or could be displaced from it to the sides. Conclusion. The study determined the morphometric parameters of the valves of the aorta and the pulmonary trunk, which explore and concertize the normal anatomy of the heart.

For citation
Barkina MA, Demidov VO, Gaponov AA. Morphometry of the aortic and pulmonary valves. Bulletin of USMU. 2023;(3):82–88. (In Russ.). EDN: https://elibrary.ru/SPMJJU.