[Functional anatomy of the venous inflow in the human fetal heart (author's transl)]

Heart and cardiac veins of human fetuses (85-190 mm C.R. length) were dissected in situ by dorsal or ventral access. The atrial wall was partially removed. Muscle tissue and blood vessels were studied histologically. The pattern of the blood vessels (except the pulmonary veins) and their opening into the heart is presented synoptically. The following terms are discussed: posterior caval channel, sinus venarum, torus Loweri, atrial septa, and foramen ovale, respectively. Also discussed is the architecture of the muscles of the right atrium in systole and diastole. A correlation has been made with corresponding physiological data.