The Orientation of the Heart and the Appearance of Its Chambers in the Adult Cadaver

The gross anatomy of the heart has been studied for hundreds of years and doctors have long been familiar with its main features. Developments in clinical practice in the last 25 years and particularly in the last decade demand, however, a detailed knowledge of certain aspects of cardiac anatomy that is not always available in current text-books. This is apparent if one considers the necessity for the radiologist or clinician screening cardiac patients to be familiar with the detailed anatomy of the various chambers and vessels whose shadows he is inspecting. Again the surgeon engaged on intracardiac surgery must be familiar not only with the gross anatomy of the cardiac chambers but with the minute anatomy, location, and relations of the valve cusps. The clinician at the bedside is helped in his understanding of physical signs by the ability to visualize the chambers of the heart in their proper relationship to one another and their orientation within the thorax.