Oxygen-poor blood from the body enters your heart through two large veins called the superior and inferior vena cava. The blood enters the heart's right atrium and is pumped to your right ventricle, which in turn pumps the blood to your lungs. Show
The pulmonary artery then carries the oxygen-poor blood from your heart to the lungs. Your lungs add oxygen to your blood. The oxygen-rich blood returns to your heart through the pulmonary veins. Visit our How the Lungs Work page to learn more about what happens to the blood in the lungs. The oxygen-rich blood from the lungs then enters the left atrium and is pumped to the left ventricle. The left ventricle generates the high pressure needed to pump the blood to your whole body through your blood vessels. When blood leaves the heart to go to the rest of the body, it travels through a large artery called the aorta. A balloon-like bulge, called an aortic aneurysm, can sometimes occur in the aorta.
Your heart is an amazing organ. It continuously pumps oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout your body to sustain life. This fist-sized powerhouse beats (expands and contracts) 100,000 times per day, pumping five or six quarts of
blood each minute, or about 2,000 gallons per day. As the heart beats, it pumps blood through a system of blood vessels, called the circulatory system. The vessels are
elastic tubes that carry blood to every part of the body. Blood is essential. In addition to carrying fresh oxygen from the lungs and nutrients to your body's tissues, it also takes the body's waste products, including carbon dioxide, away from the tissues. This is necessary to sustain life and promote the health of all the body's tissues. There are three main types of blood vessels: This vast system of blood vessels -- arteries, veins, and capillaries -- is over 60,000 miles long. That's long enough to go around the world more than twice! Blood flows continuously through your
body's blood vessels. Your heart is the pump that makes it all possible. Where Is Your Heart and What Does It Look Like?The heart is located under the rib cage, to the left of your breastbone (sternum) and between your lungs. Looking at the outside of the heart, you can see that the heart is made of muscle. The strong muscular walls contract (squeeze), pumping blood to the arteries. The major blood vessels connected to your heart are the aorta, the superior vena cava, the inferior vena cava, the pulmonary artery (which takes oxygen-poor blood from the heart to the lungs where it is oxygenated), the pulmonary veins (which bring oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the heart), and the coronary arteries (which supply blood to the heart muscle). On the inside, the heart is a four-chambered, hollow organ. It is divided into the left and right side by a wall called the septum. The right and left sides of the heart are further divided into two top chambers called the atria, which receive blood from the veins, and two bottom chambers called ventricles, which pump blood into the arteries. The atria and ventricles work together, contracting and relaxing to pump blood out of the heart. As blood leaves each chamber of the heart, it passes through a valve. There are four heart valves within the heart:
The tricuspid and mitral valves lie between the atria and ventricles. The aortic and pulmonic valves lie between the ventricles and the major blood vessels leaving the heart. The heart valves work the same way as one-way valves in the plumbing of your home. They prevent blood from flowing in the wrong direction. Each valve has a set of flaps, called leaflets or cusps. The mitral valve has two leaflets; the others have three. The leaflets are attached to and supported by a ring of tough, fibrous tissue called the annulus. The annulus helps to maintain the proper shape of the valve. The leaflets of the mitral and tricuspid valves are also supported by tough, fibrous strings called chordae tendineae. These are similar to the strings supporting a parachute. They extend from the valve leaflets to small muscles, called papillary muscles, which are part of the inside walls of the ventricles. The right and left sides of the heart work together. The pattern described below is repeated over and over, causing blood to flow continuously to the heart, lungs, and body. Right side Left side Once blood travels through the pulmonic valve, it enters your lungs. This is called the pulmonary circulation. From your pulmonic valve, blood travels to the pulmonary artery to tiny capillary vessels in the lungs. Here, oxygen travels from the tiny air sacs in the lungs, through the walls of the capillaries, into the blood. At the same time, carbon dioxide, a waste product of
metabolism, passes from the blood into the air sacs. Carbon dioxide leaves the body when you exhale. Once the blood is purified and oxygenated, it travels back to the left atrium through the pulmonary veins. What Are the Coronary Arteries?Like all organs, your heart is made of tissue that requires a supply of oxygen and nutrients. Although its chambers are full of blood, the heart receives no nourishment from this blood. The heart receives its own supply of blood from a network of arteries, called the coronary arteries. Two major coronary arteries branch off from the aorta near the point where the aorta and the left ventricle meet: These arteries and their branches supply all parts of the heart muscle with blood. When the coronary arteries narrow to the point that blood flow to the heart muscle is limited (coronary artery disease), a network of tiny blood vessels in the heart that aren't usually open called collateral vessels may enlarge and become active. This allows blood to flow around the blocked artery to the heart muscle, protecting the heart tissue from injury. The atria and ventricles work together, alternately contracting and relaxing to make the heart beat and pump blood. The electrical system of your heart is the power source that makes this possible. Your heartbeat is triggered by electrical impulses that travel down a special pathway through your heart. At rest, a normal heart beats around 50 to 99 times a minute. Exercise, emotions, fever, and some medications can cause your heart to beat faster, sometimes to well over 100 beats per minute. How does the blood flow through the heart step by step?Blood comes into the right atrium from the body, moves into the right ventricle and is pushed into the pulmonary arteries in the lungs. After picking up oxygen, the blood travels back to the heart through the pulmonary veins into the left atrium, to the left ventricle and out to the body's tissues through the aorta.
What are the 7 steps of blood flow?What Are The Steps Of The Blood Circulation In Heart Flowchart?. Deoxygenated blood starts to run from the body.. It flows into Superior/ Inferior Vena Cava.. The flow of deoxygenated blood reaches the right atrium.. The atrium will push the flow through the Tricuspid valve.. The gore stays in the right ventricle.. What are the 13 steps of blood flow through the heart?Blood flows through the heart in the following order: 1) body –> 2) inferior/superior vena cava –> 3) right atrium –> 4) tricuspid valve –> 5) right ventricle –> 6) pulmonary arteries –> 7) lungs –> 8) pulmonary veins –> 9) left atrium –> 10) mitral or bicuspid valve –> 11) left ventricle –> 12) aortic valve –> 13) ...
What is the correct order of blood flow from the heart?The right ventricle pumps the oxygen-poor blood to the lungs through the pulmonary valve. The left atrium receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and pumps it to the left ventricle through the mitral valve. The left ventricle pumps the oxygen-rich blood through the aortic valve out to the rest of the body.
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