ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

THE HEART

Your heart is located under the ribcage in the center of your chest between your right and left lung. It’s

shaped like an upside-down pear. Its muscular walls beat, or contract, pumping blood continuously to all parts

of your body.

The size of your heart can vary depending on your age, size, or the condition of your heart. A normal,

healthy, adult heart most often is the size of an average clenched adult fist. Some diseases of the heart can cause

it to become larger.

 The heart is the muscle in the lower half of the picture. The heart has four chambers. The right and left atria

are shown in purple. The right and left ventricles are shown in red.

 Connected to the heart are some of the main blood vessels—arteries and veins—that make up your blood

circulatory system.

 The ventricle on the right side of your heart pumps blood from the heart to your lungs. When you breathe

air in, oxygen passes from your lungs through blood vessels where it’s added to your blood. Carbon

dioxide, a waste product, is passed from your blood through blood vessels to your lungs and is removed

from your body when you breathe air out.

  The atrium on the left side of your heart receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs. The pumping action of

your left ventricle sends this oxygen-rich blood through the aorta (a main artery) to the rest of your body.

The Right Side of the Heart

 The superior and inferior vena cavae are in blue to the left of the muscle as you look at the picture. These

veins are the largest veins in your body. They carry used (oxygen-poor) blood to the right atrium of your

heart. “Used” blood has had its oxygen removed and used by your body’s organs and tissues. The superior

vena cava carries used blood from the upper parts of your body, including your head, chest, arms, and neck.

The inferior vena cava carries used blood from the lower parts of your body.

 The used blood from the vena cavae flows into your heart’s right atrium and then on to the right ventricle.

From the right ventricle, the used blood is pumped through the pulmonary arteries (in blue in the center of

picture) to your lungs. Here, through many small, thin blood vessels called capillaries, your blood picks up

oxygen needed by all the areas of your body.

 The oxygen-rich blood passes from your lungs back to your heart through the pulmonary veins (in red to

the left of the right atrium in the picture).

The Left Side of the Heart

 Oxygen-rich blood from your lungs passes through the pulmonary veins (in red to the right of the left

atrium in the picture). It enters the left atrium and is pumped into the left ventricle. From the left ventricle,

your blood is pumped to the rest of your body through the aorta.

 Like all of your organs, your heart needs blood rich with oxygen. This oxygen is supplied through the

coronary arteries as it’s pumped out of your heart’s left ventricle. Your coronary arteries are located on

your heart’s surface at the beginning of the aorta. Your coronary arteries (shown in red in the drawing)

carry oxygen-rich blood to all parts of your heart.

HEART INTERIOR

The Septum

 The right and left sides of your

heart are divided by an internal

wall of tissue called the septum.

The area of the septum that divides

the two upper chambers (atria) of

your heart is called the atrial or

interatrial septum. The area of the

septum that divides the two lower

chambers (ventricles) of your heart

is called the ventricular or

interventricular septum.

Heart Chamber

 The picture shows the inside of your heart and how it’s divided into four chambers. The two upper

chambers of your heart are called atria. The atria receive and collect blood. The two lower chambers of

your heart are called ventricles. The ventricles pump blood out of your heart into the circulatory system to

other parts of your body.

Heart Valves

 The picture shows your heart’s four valves. Shown counterclockwise in the picture, the valves include the

aortic valve, the tricuspid valve, the pulmonary valve, and the mitral valve or Bicuspid.

Blood Flow
  The arrows in the drawing show the direction that blood flows through your heart. The light blue arrows

show that blood enters the right atrium of your heart from the superior and inferior vena cavae. From the

right atrium, blood is pumped into the right ventricle. From the right ventricle, blood is pumped to your

lungs through the pulmonary arteries.

 The light red arrows show the oxygen-rich blood coming in from your lungs through the pulmonary veins

into your heart’s left atrium. From the left atrium, the blood is pumped into the left ventricle, where it’s

pumped to the rest of your body through the aorta.

 For the heart to function properly, your blood flows in only one direction. Your heart’s valves make this

possible. Both of your heart’s ventricles has an “in” (inlet) valve from the atria and an “out” (outlet) valve

leading to your arteries. Healthy valves open and close in very exact coordination with the pumping action

of your heart’s atria and ventricles. Each valve has a set of flaps called leaflets or cusps, which seal or open

the valves. This allows pumped blood to pass through the chambers and into your arteries without backing

up or flowing backward.

Suferior Vena Cava

Right Atrium Tricuspid Valve Right Ventricle

Inferior Vena Cava

Pulmonary Artery

Different Systems Lungs

Aorta Left Ventricle Bicuspid Left Atrium Pulmonary Vein

 PATHOPHYSIOLOGY

Modifiable Risk Factors Non-modifiable Risk Factors

Increasing age 59 y/o
High blood cholesterol level Gender (heart disease occurs three times more
Cigarette smoking, tobacco use often in men than
Hypertension in premenopausal women)
Physical inactivity
Obesity

Cholesterol

Foam Cells

Oxidized LDL

Plaque Formation
 Blood Vessels Are Blocked Increased resistance of blood vessels

Affects Blood Supply

Weakness
Increased BP

Reduces Oxygen supply to the heart muscle and the body

Increased RR
Lactic acid produced

Chest pain occurs(Angina Pectoris)