ARDMS Adult Echo Practice Exam

The small cardiac vein primarily drains blood from the right ventricle, specifically from areas supplied by the right coronary artery. It runs along the right atrioventricular groove and collects blood from the right ventricle and parts of the right atrium. The drainage it provides is essential for returning deoxygenated blood from the myocardium of the right ventricle back into the venous circulation.

While the great cardiac vein and the coronary sinus play important roles in drainage from other areas of the heart, they do not specifically focus solely on the right ventricle. The great cardiac vein drains the anterior aspects of the heart alongside the left ventricle, and the coronary sinus collects blood from various cardiac veins, including the great cardiac vein, but it is not specifically dedicated to the right ventricle alone. The circumflex artery is an artery, not a vein, and is involved in supplying oxygenated blood rather than draining it.

Thus, the small cardiac vein is specifically responsible for the drainage of coronary blood from the right ventricle, making it the correct choice in this context.