Smallest cardiac veins contribute to normal physiologic shunting of blood. As a consequence of the input of these vessels, blood in the left heart is less oxygenated than the blood found at the pulmonary capillary beds, albeit to a very small degree. The "openings of smallest cardiac veins" are located in the endocardium. Here the smallest cardiac veins return blood into the heart chambers from the capillary bed in the muscular cardiac wall, enabling a form of collateral circulation unique to the heart. Not every endocardial opening connects to the thebesian veins as some connect to the vessels of Wearn, which are arteries.
Great arteries of the aortic arch. The 5th pair of vessels only form in some cases without any known contribution to the final structure of the great arteries. The right 6th almost completely regresses with only the proximal part contributing to the base of the pulmonary arteries, while the left 6th forms the ductus arteriosus, which disappears after birth. Abnormalities in the development of the great arteries during embryonic development may lead to congenital cardiovascular defects, such as: Some of these defects can be asymptomatic and cause no complications in patients, with others being more severe and require immediate surgery right after