The heart and the cardiovascular system

• English
• Tertiary Education

The heart 

Today

• Anatomy of the heart
• Anatomy of Major Arteries
• Anatomy of major Veins
• Portal Vein
• Minor and Major circulation 

Anatomy

The heart itself is made up out of four chambers:

Left and right Atrium (top)

Left and right Ventricles (Bottom)

Remember:

When we use the terms left and right in Anatomy we always reason from the patient's perspective.

In practice this means:

Left is Right and Right is Left

Arteries and Veins

The heart's primary function is to pump blood throughout the body.

It does this through a series of connected tubes called:

 Arteries (s. Artery) and Veins (s. Vein)

Arteries

An artery is thick and made up of

several layers of cells.

It needs this because of the pressure 

the pumping of the heart puts 

on it's walls. 

This pressure can we measure to 

check blood pressure 

Arteries

The direction of blood flow in arteries and veins is  opposite of eachother.

Arteries always deliver Blood from the heart to an organ

 

The Major Arteries

The major arteries in near the heart 

are the:

Pulmonary Artery

and

The Aorta

Pulmonary Artery

The pulmonary artery delivers blood towards the lungs. 

This blood is low in oxygen

(one of the few arteries to deliver low oxygen blood)

Pulmonary 

The word pulmonary means anything related to the lungs.

Such as 

Pulmonary system

 Pulmonary disease

Pulmonary embolism

etc.

The Aorta

The Aorta is the largest artery in the body and delivers blood everywhere else.

The Aorta leaves the heart from the left ventricle and the blood it carries is high in oxygen.

There are many branches of the aorta that have different names, we will go through the largest of them.

Aortic Branches

The aorta leaves the heart upwards and 

curves around the heart. This curve is named

the Aortic Arch.

In the aortic arch it branches off in the left- and right

carotid artery. 

The Carotids bring oxygenated blood towards the brain.

Afterwards the aorta goes downwards,

which is named Descending Aorta.

Abdominal Aorta

Towards the middel of the body the Aorta is now named the Abdominal Aorta.

The abdominal aorta can aneurysm, meaning the walls can weaken and swell and it can burst. 

This is called a "triple A" or "AAA" in the medical field.

Generally patients complain of stomach/abdominal pain and show symptoms of major hemorrhage

Abdominal Aorta

Triple A Patients generally bleed out within minutes. This is because the Abdominal Aorta delivers blood to all major organs in the abdomen.

Each of these arteries are named for the organ they are connected to.

Abdominal Aorta

English	Latin	Dutch
Renal	Rena	Nier
Hepatic	Hepar	Lever
Gastric	Gastricus	Maag
Frenic	Phrenicus	Middenrif
Testicular	Testes	Testikel
Ovarian	Ovarium	Eierstokken

Branches

Eventually the aorta branches into two femoral arteries (femur = upper thigh bone) and they continue through towards your toes.

Capillaries

The capillaries (s. capillary) are the smallest possible blood vessels we have. 

They are so small their wall is comprised of only 1 cell layer thick. 

This makes it possible for the blood to give off all kinds of chemicals and gasses to the cells of the organs, most notably ofcourse switching oxygen for carbondioxide.

Veins

From the capillaries the blood returns in bloodvessels named veins. These generally have thinner walls and contain extra valves inside the blood vessel.

The valves are there to prevent back-flow,

because the pressure inside the veins is 

so low they can't actually push all the blood 

up.

Veins always run from and organ to the 

heart, with one notable exception.

Portal Vein

the portal vein is a very special blood vessel as it has no direct connection to the heart.

It runs from the digestive system to the liver.

Two circles

There are two different circulations going on in the body. 

The small (or minor) one

Of which is the goal to oxygenate the blood.

Therefor it runs from the heart to the lungs, through the pulmonary artery and veins.

Two circles

The other is the large one (Major) which runs from the heart to the rest of the body.

It's goal is to deliver oxygen.

Oxygen or no Oxygen

The blood in arteries of the major circulation carry oxygen, because it's goal is to deliver that oxygen.

The blood in the veins of the major circulation carry no oxygen, but carbondioxide.

Because it's goal is to return the blood to the heart.

Oxygen or no Oxygen

The blood in the arteries of the minor circulation carry no oxygen, because it's goal is to deliver the blood to the lungs for oxygenation.

The blood in the veins of the minor circulation carry oxygen, as it has just returned from the lungs and is now oxygenated.