Right inferolateral branch of right coronary artery

At a glance

English

Right inferolateral branch of right coronary artery

Latin (TA2)

(Ramus inferolateralis dexter arteriae coronariae dextrae)

System

Heart

Region

Trunk

Side

Single, on the midline

About the right inferolateral branch of right coronary artery

The right inferolateral branch is the name used in the current terminology for what many textbooks and cardiologists call the right posterolateral branch, or RPL. The older word posterior has been replaced by inferior throughout the coronary vocabulary, because the surface concerned rests on the diaphragm and faces downwards in the living body rather than backwards.

The right coronary artery runs in the right atrioventricular groove round the acute margin and along the underside of the heart. At or near the crux, where the atrioventricular groove meets the inferior interventricular groove, it usually gives off the inferior (posterior) interventricular artery. In a right-dominant heart the main trunk does not stop there. It carries on to the left beyond the crux, lying in the left part of the atrioventricular groove for a short distance, and gives one or more inferolateral branches that turn down over the diaphragmatic wall of the left ventricle.

How long and how large these branches are depends on the balance between the right and left coronary arteries. When the right artery is strongly dominant they may reach well round towards the lateral wall and supply a substantial area of the left ventricle. When the circumflex artery is dominant they may be tiny or missing, with the circumflex covering the same ground from the other direction.

Clinically these branches matter because blockage of the right coronary artery before their origin extends an inferior infarct into the inferolateral wall of the left ventricle. They are also seen and treated during angiography, where they appear as the terminal branches of the right artery after the inferior interventricular artery.

Function and supply

Begins at

The right coronary artery at or just beyond the crux of the heart, after it has given off the inferior interventricular artery.

Ends at

Spreads over the diaphragmatic (inferior) wall of the left ventricle towards its lateral wall; its extent depends on coronary dominance.

Function

Supplies the inferior and inferolateral wall of the left ventricle and, in some hearts, the posteromedial papillary muscle of the left ventricle.