Cardiac fibrous skeleton

Assoc Prof Craig Hacking ◉ ◈ et al.

The fibrous skeleton of the heart is a complex set of collagenous rings that connect annuli of all four cardiac valves. Between the four annuli are two trigones (right and left) and the membranous portions of the interatrial, interventricular, and atrioventricular septa. The annuli of the two semilunar valves are attached in a manner that resemble a figure of 8, which lies obliquely, almost vertically oriented in the sagittal plane.

There are several vital functions of the skeleton:

anchors the bases of the cardiac valves
keeps the atrioventricular and semilunar orifices patent
anchors the myocardium of the walls of all four cardiac chambers
allows independent atrial and ventricular contraction by electrically insulating the atria above the fibrous skeleton from the ventricles below

References

Anatomy: Thoracic

Anatomy: Thoracic

thoracic skeleton
- thoracic cage
  - ribs
    - typical ribs
    - atypical ribs
    - variant anatomy
  - costal cartilage
  - sternum
- thoracic spine
- articulations
muscles of the thorax
spaces of the thorax
thoracic viscera
- tracheobronchial tree
  - trachea
- lungs
- heart
  - cardiac chambers
  - heart valves
  - pectinate muscles
  - cardiac fibrous skeleton
    - aortic annulus
  - coronary arteries
    - coronary arterial dominance
    - myocardial segments
    - left main coronary artery (LMCA)
      - ramus intermedius artery (RI)
      - circumflex artery (LCx)
        
        obtuse marginal branches (OM1, OM2, etc))
        
        Kugel's artery
      - left anterior descending artery (LAD)
        
        diagonal branches (D1, D2, etc)
        
        septal perforators (S1, S2, etc)
    - right coronary artery (RCA)
      - conus artery
      - sinoatrial nodal artery
      - acute marginal branches (AM1, AM2, etc)
      - inferior interventricular artery (PDA)
      - posterior left ventricular artery (PLV)
    - congenital anomalies
  - innervation of the heart
  - fetal circulation
    - foramen ovale
  - atrial septum
    - fossa ovale
  - endocardium
  - myocardium
  - pericardium
    - epicardium
    - epicardial fat pad
    - pericardial space
      - oblique pericardial sinus
      - transverse pericardial sinus
      - pericardial recesses
        
        aortic recesses
        
        superior aortic recess
        
        inferior aortic recess
        
        pulmonic recesses
        
        right pulmonic recess
        
        left pulmonic recess
        
        postcaval recess
        
        pulmonary venous recesses
        
        right pulmonary venous recess
        
        left pulmonary venous recess
    - pericardial ligaments
- esophagus
  - Zenker diverticulum
  - Killian-Jamieson diverticulum
- thymus
  - retrocaval thymus
- breast
  - nipple-areola complex
  - terminal ductal lobular unit
  - axillary tail
    - foramen of Langer
  - mammary fat
  - Montgomery glands
    - Montgomery tubercles
  - Cooper ligaments
    - crests of Duret
  - retromammary space (Chassaignac bursa)
  - lymphatic drainage
    - Sappey plexus
    - intramammary lymph nodes
  - variants
    - supranumerary nipple (polythelia)
    - accessory breast tissue (polymastia)
    - breast hypoplasia
    - amastia
    - amazia
blood supply of the thorax
- arteries
  - thoracic aorta (development)
  - pulmonary trunk
    - left pulmonary artery
      - aberrant left pulmonary artery
    - right pulmonary artery
- veins
  - superior vena cava (SVC)
    - superior cavoatrial junction
    - variant anatomy
  - inferior vena cava (IVC)
    - inferior cavoatrial junction
  - coronary veins
    - cardiac veins which drain into the coronary sinus
      - great cardiac vein
      - middle cardiac vein
      - small cardiac vein
      - posterior vein of the left ventricle
      - vein of Marshall (oblique vein of the left atrium)
    - anterior cardiac veins
    - venae cordis minimae (smallest cardiac veins or thebesian veins)
  - pulmonary veins
    - bronchial veins
  - thoracoepigastric vein
lymphatics
innervation of the thorax

Article information

rID: 49278

System: Cardiac

Section: Anatomy

Synonyms or Alternate Spellings:

fibrous skeleton of the heart
fibrous skeleton

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