Sex differences in diameter of the coronary sinus ostium: Correlation with weight of the heart

Abstract

Diameter of the coronary sinus ostium is important in the designing of cannulation devices used in cardiac resynchronization  therapy and percutaneous mitral valve annuloplasty. Population variation of the diameter may account for the failure rate of these procedures. Studies of the coronary sinus ostium from African populations are scarce and altogether absent for Kenya. Therefore, this study aimed at determining sex differences in the diameter of coronary sinus ostium and its correlation with the weight of the heart. Seventy-four hearts of adult black Kenyans [43 male, 31 females; age range 20 – 70 years] obtained during autopsy at the Department of Human Anatomy, University of Nairobi, Kenya were weighed. The coronary sinus ostium was identified and its   transverse and supero-inferior diameters measured in millimeters. The measurements were analyzed using SPSS version 17. Sex  comparison was established using student’s t test. Association between diameter and heart weight was established using  Pearson’s correlation test and considered significant at a p-value of ≤0.05. Data were presented using scatter plots. Transverse and supero-inferior diameters of the ostium were 11.04±1.88mm and 9.50±1.80mm respectively. The mean diameter was 10.27 mm. These correlated positively with weight of the heart. When corrected for weight of the hearts, the transverse and supero-inferior diameters were larger in females (0.042 and 0.036 respectively) than in males (0.034 and 0.03 respectively). The diameter of coronary sinus ostium is larger in females and shows positive correlation with weight of the heart. These data should be considered during design and use of cardiac devices introduced through the coronary sinus.

Key words: Coronary sinus, ostium, diameter, sex difference.