Enhanced performance,evaluation,and interpretation of the various forms ofcardi- ological diagnostic procedures and open-heart surgery, the achievement of a rapid improvement in the oxygen consumption ofhypoxic myocardium,and the salvage of viable but ischemic myocardium still appear to constitute the most important chal- lenges to modern medicine. Research on the vascular anatomyof the myocardium has mostlybeen focused on the coronary arteries and myocardial capillaries (von Liidinghausen 2002); by com- parison, the coronaryor cardiac venous systems have traditionally been neglected. A...