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The heart is a muscular organ situated in the mediastinum.It consists of four chambers, four valves, two main arteries (the coronary arteries), and the conduction system. The left and right sides of the heart have different functions: the right side receives de-oxygenated blood through the superior and inferior venae cavae and pumps blood to the lungs through the pulmonary artery, and the left ...
In the developed world, valvular heart disease is most commonly caused by degeneration secondary to old age, but may also be caused by infection of the heart valves (endocarditis). In some parts of the world rheumatic heart disease is a major cause of valvular heart disease, typically leading to mitral or aortic stenosis and caused by the body ...
Diagram of the human heart showing blood oxygenation to the pulmonary and systemic circulation. The heart pumps blood to all parts of the body providing nutrients and oxygen to every cell, and removing waste products. The left heart pumps oxygenated blood returned from the lungs to the rest of the body in the systemic circulation.
The heart's cardiac skeleton comprises four dense connective tissue rings that encircle the mitral and tricuspid atrioventricular (AV) canals and extend to the origins of the pulmonary trunk and aorta. This provides crucial support and structure to the heart while also serving to electrically isolate the atria from the ventricles. [1]
In human physiology, the atria facilitate circulation primarily by allowing uninterrupted venous flow to the heart during ventricular systole. [22] [23] By being partially empty and distensible, atria prevent the interruption of venous flow to the heart that would occur during ventricular systole if the veins ended at the inlet valves of the ...
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The heart and its performance are also commonly measured in terms of dimensions, which in this case means one-dimensional distances, usually measured in millimeters. This is not as informative as volumes but may be much easier to estimate with (e.g., M-Mode echocardiography [ 17 ] or with sonomicrometry , which is mostly used for animal model ...
The heart works by pumping blood around the body allowing oxygen, nutrients, waste, hormones and white blood cells to be transported. Diagram of the human heart. The heart is composed of two atria and two ventricles. The primary purpose of the atria is to allow uninterrupted venous blood flow to the heart during ventricular systole.