SUMMARY
Background: The 3-dimensional arrangement of the ventricular mass has been controversial. The aim of the present study was to investigate the macroarchitecture of ventricular myocardial fibers and to analyze whether it is consistent with the helical ventricular myocardial band (HVMB) hypothesis.Methods: Eight excised human hearts were scanned by diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DT-MRI). Fiber tracking was then used with the DT-MRI data to reconstruct and visualize the positions of the myocardial fibers to reveal the architecture of ventricular myocardial fibers.Results: The left ventricular myocardial fibers were found to consist of 2 crossed populations that were approximately normal from the epicardium to the endocardium in the tangent plane. The myocardial fibers in the middle of the myocardium had a smooth, linear angular rotation. The ventricular myocardial fibers maintained complete continuity and specific orientations that corresponded to the HVMB structure.Conclusions: The architecture of the ventricular myocardial fibers in the human heart conforms to the HVMB structural hypothesis.