Cardiac muscle the walls of a house contain electrical wires and plumbing, cardiac muscle also contains specialised cells for conducting electrical signals rapidly (the cardiac conduction system), and blood vessels to bring nutrients to the muscle cells and take away waste products (the coronary arteries, veins and capillary network). Cardiac muscle cells or cardiomyocytes are the contracting cells which allow the heart to pump. Each cardiomyocyte needs to contract in coordination with its neighbouring cells to efficiently pump blood from the heart, and if this coordination breaks down then – despite individual cells contracting – the heart may not pump at all,
Patellar network Patellar network The patellar network (circulatory anastomosis around the knee-joint, patellar anastomosis, genicular anastomosis, articular vascular network of knee or rete articulare genus) is an intricate network of vessels around and above the patella, and on the contiguous ends of the femur and tibia, forming a superficial and a deep plexus. The arteries which form this plexus are the inferior medial and superior medial genicular arteries, the inferior lateral and superior lateral genicular arteries, the descending genicular artery, the descending branch of lateral femoral circumflex artery, and the anterior tibial recurrent artery. The genicular anastomosis provides collateral circulation to supply