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.
Coronary arteries Coronary arteries The coronary arteries are the arteries of the coronary circulation, which transports blood into and out of the cardiac muscle. They are mainly composed of the left and right coronary arteries, both of which give off branches. Coronary arteries can also be categorized as Epicardial (above the epicardium) and Microvascular (close to the endocardium). The left coronary artery arises from the aorta above the left cusp of the aortic valve and feeds blood to the left side of the heart. It branches into two arteries and sometimes a third branch is formed at the fork, known as a