Morphological Study of Tricuspid Valve And Its Variations in Adult Human Hearts

Introduction: The tricuspid valve is a heterogeneous structure with great variability in its structure and has remained unexamined despite intense interest in cardioanatomy. The tricuspid valve complex is of great clinical importance in the light of progress in cardiosurgery and the development of novel operating techniques. Materials and methods: The present work was done by dissecting 42 formalin fixed adult human hearts. The sex of human was not considered. The following observations were taken (a ) number of cusps (b)number of papillary muscles and their variations. Observations and results: It was observed that the number of leaflets attached to the tricuspid valve annulus was three, namely anterior, posterior and septal leaflet in 100% of cases and no accessory leaflet was found. On inspection of the interior of right ventricle it was found that the anterior and posterior papillary muscles were present in 100% of cases and in 2.3% of cases septal papillary muscle was absent. In one case, three accessory papillary muscles were found in the posterior wall of right ventricle and in one case, two accessory anterior papillary muscles were present. The anterior papillary muscle arose from the right anterolateral ventricular wall. It was single headed in 33 cases and double headed in 9 cases .The posterior papillary muscle arose from posterolateral ventricular wall. It was single headed in 16 cases, double headed in 26 Cases. Conclusion: Anatomical variation in the morphology of the tricuspid valve may help cardiac surgeons during surgical procedures conducted for correction of their defects.