Corpus: Coronary sinus

The coronary sinus or coronary venous sinus is a confluence of several cardiac veins that conducts venous blood into the right atrium.

The coronary sinus lies on the posterior surface (facies posterior) of the heart. It runs transversely to the heart axis in the sulcus between the left atrium and the left ventricle. Its opening point is the ostium sinus coronarii, just above the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve. It is closed by a small valve, the valvula sinus coronarii (valvula thebesii).

The following cardiac veins, among others, open into the coronary sinus:

• Vena cardiaca magna
• Vena cardiaca media
• Vena cardiaca parva
• Vena ventriculi sinistri posterior
• Vena obliqua atrii sinistri

A further venous valve, the Vieussen valve, is often found between the great cardiac vein and the coronary sinus.