Cardiovascular Stystem Flashcards
Apex
It is the very tip and helps pump or “wring out” blood from the ventricles to the rest of the body (LV apex) or the lungs (RV apex). It does this by helping regulate the right and left ventricles of the heart and allowing them to pump blood upward and out of the heart.
Base
It is probably better termed its posterior surface. It is not the most inferior surface of the organ but rather the most superior. It assumed the term because it is thought to resemble the base of the pyramid or cone which extends obliquely to the left to the apex of the heart.
Pericardium
It is a fibrous sac that encloses the heart and great vessels. It keeps the heart in a stable location in the mediastinum, facilitates its movements, and separates it from the lungs and other mediastinal structures.
Atria
It is the two upper chambers in the heart, which receive blood from the veins and push it into the ventricles.
Ventricles
It is a fluid-filled cavity in the heart.
Interatrial septum
It is a thin wall of tissue that separates the right and left atria of the heart. In adult life, its main function is to separate the two atrial chambers so that there is no shunting of blood between them.
Superior venae cavae
It is the large vein that carries blood from the head, neck, arms, and chest to the heart.
Inferior venae cavae
It is the largest vein of the human body and carries blood from the legs, feet, and organs in the abdomen and pelvis to the heart.
Pulmonary arteries
They are blood vessels that carry oxygen-poor blood from the right side of your heart to your lungs.
Pulmonary veins
They are blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood from your lungs to your heart.
Aorta
It is the largest artery of the body and carries blood from the heart to the circulatory system.
Atrioventricular valves
They are valves that separate the atria from the ventricles on each side of the heart and prevent backflow from the ventricles into the atria during systole. They include the mitral and tricuspid valves.
Bicuspid valves
It is an aortic valve with only two cusps (or flaps) instead of three. The aortic valve controls the flow of blood from the left ventricle (chamber) to the aorta, the main artery delivering blood to your body.
Tricuspid valves
It is a valve that sits between the heart’s two right chambers. It consists of three thin flaps of tissue (called cusps, or leaflets). These valve flaps open to let blood flow from the upper right chamber (right atrium) to the lower right chamber (right ventricle).
Chordae tendineae
They are strong, fibrous connections between the valve leaflets and the papillary muscles. These are attached to the leaflets on to the ventricular side and prevent the cusps from swinging back into the atrial cavity during systole.
Semilunar valves
They are half-moon-shaped leaflets of endocardium and connective tissues, situated between the aorta and the left ventricle and between the pulmonary artery and the right ventricle. These valves permit blood to be forced into the arteries, but prevent backflow from the arteries into the ventricles.
Coronary arteries
They are arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. Like all other tissues in the body, the heart muscle needs oxygen-rich blood to function. Also, oxygen-depleted blood must be carried away. The coronary arteries wrap around the outside of the heart. Small branches dive into the heart muscle to bring it blood.
Cardiac veins
They are veins that return deoxygenated blood (containing metabolic waste products) from the myocardium to the right atrium. This blood then flows back to the lungs for reoxygenation and removal of carbon dioxide.
Coronary sinus
It is the major venous tributary of the greater cardiac venous system; it is responsible for draining most of the deoxygenated blood leaving the myocardium.
Sinoatrial node
It generates an electrical signal that causes the upper heart chambers (atria) to contract. The signal then passes through the AV (atrioventricular) node to the lower heart chambers (ventricles), causing them to contract, or pump. It is considered the pacemaker of the heart.
Purkinje fibers
They are located in the inner ventricular walls of the heart, just beneath the endocardium. These fibers are specialized myocardial fibers that conduct an electrical stimulus or impulse that enables the heart to contract in a coordinated fashion.
Pacemaker
It is an electronic device that is implanted in the body to monitor heart rate and rhythm. It gives the heart electrical stimulation when it does not beat normally. It runs on batteries and has long, thin wires that connect it to the heart.
Systole
It is the period that starts when the heart is maximally filled with blood and then subsequently ejected from the ventricle to the aorta whereupon the aortic valve closes.
Diastole
It is the period when the blood vessels return blood to the heart in preparation for the next ventricular contraction.
