Heart

Introduction

You need your heart for all your body needs. It pumps about 2000 gallons of blood a day. It takes about 20 seconds for blood to reach every cell in the body. An artery carries blood out from the heart. A vein carries blood back to the heart. An average adult heart weighs about 10-13 ounces (300 to 350 grams). The rate which the heart pumps varies depending on what your doing. When at rest the heart pumps more slowly. When you run the heart rate increases to provide muscles and other tissues with additional oxygen they need. The typical heart rate is 72 beats per minute. Each beat gives out 2-3 ounces of blood pumped into the arterial system. At this heart rate it beats about 104,000 times a day. The Superior and Inferior are the biggest veins in the body. The Superior is really the biggest. These veins have a lot of carbon dioxide and have oxygen-poor blood. The aorta is the biggest artery in the whole body. Which will be covered in the report. The pulmonary vein takes the blood out of the heart and takes it to the lungs.

The Three Layers of Muscle

The heart has three layers of a muscular wall. A thin layer of tissue, the pericardium covers the outside, and another layer, the endocardium, lines the inside. The myocardium is the middle layer and is the biggest of all. Myocardial Infarction is a disease later read about in this report. The pericardium is a fibrous sac which is very smooth lining. In the space space between the pericardium and epicardium is a small amount of fluid. This fluid makes the movement of the heart muscles smooth. Myocardium is the heart muscle itself.

Atriums

The right atrium is a low pressure pump that moves blood into the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve. The atria are the two upper chambers of the heart. The right atrium receives blood from the veins which is low in oxygen and high in carbon dioxide; this blood is then transferred to the right lower chamber, or right ventricle, and is pumped into the lungs.

Ventricles

The ventricle is a muscular chamber that pumps blood out of the heart and into the circulatory system.

Right Ventricle

The right ventricle has a thicker and stronger muscular wall than the right atrium. The right ventricle pumps the oxygen-poor blood through the pulmonic valve into the lungs where blood gives up carbon dioxide it has carried from tissues. At the same time blood absorbs oxygen. From the lungs pumping action moves blood to a receiving chamber on the other side of the heart. The left atrium, gently pumps the blood to the left ventricle through the mitral valve.

Left Ventricle

The left ventricle gives a powerful pumping action to send the oxygen enriched in blood into the aorta. The aorta is the principal artery which subdivides and delivers the blood to the body's tissues including brain, organs, and extremities. Systole and Diastole

Systole is the contraction of the ventricles of the heart which forces blood out. Diastole is the relaxation of ventricles to allow blood to enter.

Treatments for the Heart

Angioplasty is a technique used to clear arteries that have become blocked with fatty deposits. Angiography is used to x-ray the blood vessels.

Valves

In the heart there are two valves that prevent backflow of blood from the ventricles into the atria. On the right side of the heart is the tricuspid valve, composed of three flaps of tissue; on the left is the two-piece mitral valve.