The terminal pathway of the lymphatic system of the human heart

Aantomical dissections in 9 human cadavers revealed the terminal pathway of the lymphatic system of the left ventricle to be constituted mainly by channels emptying into the right angulus venosus (junction of the internal jugular and subclavian veins) at the base of the right side of the neck. This observation has clinical implications because it has been shown that a sampling of cardiac lymph provides the best method for analyzing myocardial metabolic abnormalities and that drainage of cardiac lymph alleviates the myocardial changes produced by ischemic injury.