External Heart Anatomy

Today's Medical Topic:  Gross Anatomy of the External Mammalian Heart

What Are We Looking For:  General landmarks, but most specifically we are trying to identify all the  arteries and veins that we can.  We are looking at two main views.  A ventral/anterior view and a dorsal/posterior view.  Keep in mind that this is a sheep heart so when I use the term "anterior" and "posterior" I am referring to how this heart would look in an upright bipedal mammal like a human.

Keep in mind, however that a sheep heart is not 100% like a human heart but it is very similar.  If you are in my A&P II class, you have already dissected one and these pictures I am using are from our dissections.

So this is the "front" view which is never a good term to use.  The auricles are a little hard to see but you can just see the edges of them.  The only reason the line pointing to the pulmonary trunk is blue is because it overlaps some other lines and I didn't want to confuse anyone.  I am pretty sure I have identified everything correctly on this view.

This is the "back" view which again is a poor term to use.  There is a lot more arteries and veins visible on this side and some of them are tough to identify.  I think I have identified almost everything correctly.

The line pointing to the left pulmonary vein is maybe not the left pulmonary vein but I am not sure what else it would be.  I apparently punched through the heart with a probe and that is not an artery or vein.  The posterior vena cave is actually above that.  To further clarify I took a pic of the same heart with a probe going in the anterior vena cava and exiting the posterior vena cava.

The pulmonary arteries are a little hard to see as well so I have another picture with probes sticking out of both of them.

Posterior/Dorsal View

That is it for now.  Tomorrow we go for internal gross anatomy of the heart.

Send questions or comments to dudaday@gmail.com

Disclaimer:  I am not a health care provider, any information presented in this blog should not be considered advice it is mearly an outlet to slake my curiosity.  You should always consult your primary medical provider for any concerns or illness.  Unlike Tylenol, I am not approved by the FDA or American Medical Association to treat or provide relief for any ailment.