Right marginal artery

The right marginal artery, also known as the acute marginal artery or right intermediate atrial branch, supplies the surrounding right atrial tissues 1,2 and, in 10-15% of cases, provides the main arterial supply to the sinus node 3,4.

It arises from the inferior border of the right coronary artery at the acute right margin of the heart, ascending over the anterolateral surface of the right atrium 1,2.

Its origin is marked by the presence of a small fatty excrescence or a cardiac vein adjacent to the artery that drains into the wall of the right atrium 5.

The right marginal artery passes to the left along the acute margin of the right ventricle 1,2. It often has a much higher origin and passes obliquely down over the front of the ventricle 1.