coronary sinus
- noun
- /ˈkɔrəˌnɛri ˈsaɪnəs/
- Specialized
- The doctor examined the coronary sinus during the cardiac procedure.
Examples
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Surgeons often examine the coronary sinus during heart procedures.
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Obstruction of the coronary sinus can lead to problems with blood flow in the heart.
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Venous blood from the myocardium returns to the right atrium through the coronary sinus.
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The coronary sinus collects deoxygenated blood from the heart muscle.
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The surgeon carefully placed the catheter into the coronary sinus to drain blood from the heart muscle.
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Doctors monitor the flow of blood through the coronary sinus during cardiac procedures.
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An echocardiogram can reveal issues with the coronary sinus and its function.
Synonyms
A short vein in the heart that collects blood from the heart's veins into the right atrium
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'coronary' relates to the heart and 'sinus' denotes a venous or vascular channel, so a learner who knows both constituents can infer a venous channel in the heart that collects blood. This noun–noun compounding follows ordinary English formation patterns (and similar terms exist cross-linguistically), making the term transparent to learners.
Etymology
Coronary sinus comes from old words: coronary means 'crown' because the heart's blood vessels run around the heart like a crown, and sinus means 'bay', a small curve where blood can gather. That is why the name fits the short vein that sits around the heart and collects blood to return it to the right atrium.