Normal Heart Anatomy function
The heart acts a pump, delivering blood to the organs, tissues, and cells of your body through a complex network of arteries, arterioles, and capillaries. Blood is returned to your heart through venules (small veins) and veins.
The arteries are the passageways through which the blood is delivered and the veins are the passageways through which the blood is collected and returned to the heart.
The adult heart weighs between 200 to 425 grams (7 to 15 ounces) and is about the size of your fist. Your heart is a muscle, which unlike other muscles of the body has to work around the clock to keep your blood circulating.
Exterior Anatomy commonly in heart diseases
There are two atria, the right atrium, and the left atrium, which are the two upper chambers of the four muscular chambers of the heart.
The right atrium collects the impure blood from the vena cava and delivers it to the right ventricle. This delivery is regulated by the tricuspid valve.
The left atrium collects the oxygenated blood from the lungs, via the pulmonary veins and delivers it to the left ventricle. This delivery is regulated by the mitral valve.
Ventricles
There are two ventricles, right and left, which are the two lower chambers of the four muscular chambers of the heart.
The right ventricle collects the impure blood from the right atrium and delivers it to the lungs for purification (oxygenation). This delivery is regulated by the pulmonary valve.
The left ventricle collects the pure blood from the left atrium and delivers it to the aorta (main artery) from where it is pumped to the rest of the body. This delivery is regulated by the aortic valve.
Aorta
The Aorta is the largest artery in the body. It collects blood pumped from the left ventricle and deliver the oxygen rich blood to various organs and tissues in the human body.
Heartbeat
The heart is a pump and each contraction of the heart represents one heartbeat.
Pulse or Heart Rate is the number of heartbeats per minute.
The heart rate is controlled by the brain and varies depending on, factors such as age, stress, exercise, surrounding temperature, and hormones.
The heartbeat is a two part pumping action- Systole (contraction) and Diastole (relaxation). Move your cursor over the labels to find out more.
Systole (Ventricular Contraction)-
The series of activities in systole which happens at one particular moment are:
The tricuspid and mitral valve shut to prevent backflow into the respective atria.
Blood from the right ventricle is pumped to the lungs through the pulmonary artery.
Blood from the left ventricle is pumped to the rest of the body through the aorta.
The Vena cava empties the deoxygenated blood into the right atrium.
The pulmonary veins empty the oxygenated blood into the left atrium.
In a normal resting adult, the heart beats about 72 times per minute (Pulse 72), which means all the above activities happen in less than one second.
Diastole (Ventricular Relaxation)–
The series of activities in diastole which happens at one particular moment are:
The tricuspid and the mitral valve open.
Deoxygenated blood from the right atrium flows to the right ventricle.
Oxygen rich blood from the left atrium flows to the left ventricle.
In a normal resting adult, the heart beats about 72 times per minute (Pulse 72), which means all the above activities happens in less than one second.
Heart Valves
The main function of the heart valves is to regulate and prevent the backflow of the blood.
There are four important valves in the heart.
Tricuspid Valve
The tricuspid valve regulates blood flow between the right atrium and the right ventricle.
It prevents the backflow of blood to the right atrium when the right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs.
Mitral Valve
The mitral valve regulates the blood flow between the left atrium and the left ventricle.
It prevents the backflow of blood to the left atrium when the left ventricle pumps blood through the aorta to the rest of the body.
Monitoring of heart rhythm and blood pressure
Before or after treatment of heart conditions, it is likely the cardiologist would recommend accurate assessment of the heart rhythm and blood pressure before instigating long term treatment with either drugs or intervention. This is to assess the need and also to assess the effectiveness of the treatment. Single measurements of heart rhythm and blood pressure does not provide the true picture of the cardiac condition.
Pulmonary Valve
The pulmonary valve regulates the de–oxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the lungs for purification.
Aortic Valve
The aortic valve regulates the oxygenated blood pumped from the left ventricle to the rest of the body.
Conduction System
The heart’s pumping energy comes from a built-in electrical conduction system.
The sinoatrial node, SA node is called the heart’s natural pacemaker that causes the atria to contract when the electrical impulse is released.
The signal is then passed on to the atrioventricular node, AV node, and then to the conduction pathways (bundle of His) to provide electrical stimulus to the ventricles.