ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To describe the anatomical relationships that exist between the heart valve structures taking into account the segments of the fibrous annuli and the left ventricular volume METHOD: Digital photographs of 41 hearts from autopsies performed by a coroner's office were analyzed. The photographs were processed using MATLAB® software, which supplies measurements of the valvar perimeter and area and the left ventricular volume. RESULTS: The average age of the corpses studied was 33 years old (standard deviation ± 17 years). Several ratios involving the tricuspid and mitral valves were tested, with strongly significant correlations found between the inter-commissural distance (ItD) and the perimeter of the anterior annulus (PA) of the tricuspid valve (r = 0.72; p-value < 0.05) and between the inter-commissural distance (ImD) and the perimeter of the posterior annulus (PP) of the mitral valve (r = 0.63; p-value < 0.05). The proportions between these parameters were PA/ItD = 1.36 ± 0.24 and PP/ImD = 1.38 ± 0.16. CONCLUSION: The proportions between the perimeter of the anterior annulus (tricuspid) and the perimeter of the posterior annulus (mitral) and their respective distances have high statistical significance and can be applied during surgery of valvar reconstruction.
Heart, anatomy & histology; Mitral valve; Tricuspid valve
