Anatomy Exam Anatomy of the Heart 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The coronary sinus drains into which cardiac chamber?
- Left atrium
- Right atrium (Correct answer)
- Left ventricle
- Right ventricle
Correct answer: Right atrium
The coronary sinus, the main venous drainage of the heart, opens into the right atrium between the inferior vena cava orifice and the tricuspid valve.
Question 2: Which structure separates the right and left ventricles?
- Interatrial septum
- Atrioventricular septum
- Interventricular septum (Correct answer)
- Crista supraventricularis
Correct answer: Interventricular septum
The interventricular septum is the thick muscular partition separating the right and left ventricular cavities.
Question 3: Pectinate muscles are characteristic of which cardiac chamber(s)?
- Both ventricles
- Left ventricle only
- Right atrium and auricles of both atria (Correct answer)
- Both atria but not the ventricles
Correct answer: Right atrium and auricles of both atria
Pectinate muscles (musculi pectinati) are ridge-like projections found in the right atrium and in the auricles (appendages) of both atria.
Question 4: What is the name of the valve between the right atrium and the right ventricle?
- Mitral valve
- Aortic valve
- Tricuspid valve (Correct answer)
- Pulmonary valve
Correct answer: Tricuspid valve
The tricuspid (right atrioventricular) valve has three cusps and controls blood flow from the right atrium to the right ventricle.
Question 5: Which vessels return oxygenated blood directly to the left atrium?
- Superior and inferior vena cavae
- Pulmonary arteries
- Pulmonary veins (Correct answer)
- Coronary veins
Correct answer: Pulmonary veins
The four pulmonary veins (two from each lung) return oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium.
Question 6: The fibrous skeleton of the heart serves which primary function?
- Generating the electrical impulse for contraction
- Providing attachment points for valves and electrically insulating atria from ventricles (Correct answer)
- Supplying nutrients to the myocardium
- Forming the outer protective layer of the heart
Correct answer: Providing attachment points for valves and electrically insulating atria from ventricles
The fibrous skeleton anchors the four heart valves, provides attachment for myocardial fibers, and acts as an electrical insulator between atria and ventricles.
Question 7: Which artery is most commonly blocked in an anterior wall myocardial infarction?
- Right coronary artery
- Left circumflex artery
- Left anterior descending artery (Correct answer)
- Obtuse marginal artery
Correct answer: Left anterior descending artery
The left anterior descending (LAD) artery supplies the anterior wall of the left ventricle and is most often occluded in anterior MI, earning it the nickname 'widow maker.'
Anatomy Exam Anatomy of the Heart 3
The coronary sinus drains into which cardiac chamber?