Heart diseases are the leading cause of death worldwide with a person dying of it every 37 seconds , According to CDC.
That's scary.. ! But, do not worry..
You can save yourself from falling victim to it by learning How heart works and What will cause disease?
All those things will be covered in this article: Introduction to Heart from how it will get affected by disease?
This might be the most important Article of your life.
Disclaimer: All content of this article is written by Dr. Rashesh Shah; So, unlike other articles every detail in this article is factual.
Let's go....
Introduction to Heart: -
- It is one of the most important organs of the body located in the chest. Exact location of it is between two lungs on the slight left side of body's mid-line.
- It is a muscular organ, made up of special type of muscle - Cardiac muscles that never get tired and do not require rest.
- In normal conditions, heart beats 70 - 100 times per minute - Resting heart rate.
- This will increase when our body requires more nutrients as in case of Exercise. And will come back to normal when we return to resting state.
- Together with blood vessels, heart makes a system called as Cardiovascular system, which will circulate the blood throughout the body.
- Cardiovascular system also containing pulmonary system will make Circulatory system.
- These words might sound scary now; but as you go further in this article, everything will become clear.
Circulatory System: -
- Simply, the system in which blood circulates is collectively known as Circulatory System. It is same as Cardiovascular System(CVS).
- Pulmonary Circulation is the part of CVS that is pumping blood throughout the body. All the body organs will take % of the blood pumped from the heart as per their needs.
- Pulmonary Circulation: Used blood from body will return to heart and it will go in the lungs to get re-oxygenated. Lung will oxygenate it and will send it back to the Heart to again distribute it in the body.
- This part of the process by which blood goes to lung and returns from lung is called pulmonary circulation.
- Systemic Circulation: - Blood will return to the Heart with more carbon dioxide after its utilization by the body tissues. From there, it will get oxygenated in lungs and will return to the body system.
- This circulation going from and to the body system is called systemic circulation.
- Important: Heart is the end organ for both systemic and pulmonary circulation. Together, both will make Cardiovascular System.
Anatomy of the Heart: -
- Interestingly, the organ that pumps the blood to the whole body is as small as fist. And the shape of it is like inverted cone.
- Heart muscles has three layers: Outer pericardium, middle myocardium and inner endocardium. The space between pericardial layers is called pericardial space that has thin film of fluid.
- Heart has 4 chambers : 2 atria on the top and two ventricles at the bottom.
- Right atria receives blood from systemic circulation and will pass to right ventricle via Tricuspid valve. From then on , blood will be sent to pulmonary circulation for oxygenation via pulmonary valve.
- From lungs, oxygen rich blood will return to the left atrium and will go to left ventricle from it , via bicuspid valve. Finally , Left ventricle, via Aortic valve , will deliver the oxygenated blood in the systemic circulation.
- Entry of the blood in the right atrium till the exit of the blood from left ventricle will be completed in one heart beat. That is approximately of 0.8 seconds...so fast...!
- Also know: - Heart receives its blood supply from coronary arteries. Blockage of it is called CAD - Coronary Artery Disease, can take person's life in few years only.
Main blood vessels connected with Heart: -
- Pulmonary vessels: - Vessel taking blood from right ventricle to Lung is called Pulmonary artery, and the vessel taking oxygenated blood from lungs to heart is called pulmonary vein.
- Systemic vessels: Aorta is the biggest artery in the body taking blood from left ventricle to the parts of the body . The blood from the system will return to the right atrium via Superior and Inferior vena cava.
- Additional: Both atria contracts first followed by both ventricles.
Conduction system of Heart: -
- Healthy heart beats for around 70 - 100 times per minute in resting condition, with the average time of one heart beat being 0.8 seconds.
- Contraction of the heart every 0.8 seconds will be because of SA node located in the superior part of the right atrium. It will generate electrical impulses signalling the heart to beat. This impulse will be passe down to both atria and then ventricle.
- Also know: Heartbeat is one of the most important factor in determining the blood pressure along with peripheral resistance and cardiac output.
Starting of the Heart Disease: -
1). CAD - Coronary Heart Disease :
When cholesterol in the blood will increase so much so that it will start depositing in the arterial wall - Atherosclerosis, arteries will get contracted.
Due to this, blood reaching to heart via Coronary Artery will be less. This will result in the part of the heart supplied by that artery dying, and the heart will not be able to pump the blood that effectively.
This will result in body tissues getting less oxygen and ultimately getting weak and ultimately die.
2). High blood pressure:
In atherosclerotic arteries, because the lumen is narrow, heart needs to pump with more pressure to give blood to all the body parts.
This will result in heart getting over-utilized and hence, getting burned out after sometime.
3). Mitral regurgitation:
Our Heart valves are designed to allow flow of the blood in single direction only. Ex: Mitral valve will allow the blood to go from right atrium to right ventricle only, but not the either way. If that happens, it is called regurgitating valve.
In this case, heart will not pump enough blood outside of ventricle; in lungs ,in this case. This will compromise the work of it, and body will not get enough nutrients.
4). Heart attack:
When the artery supplying heart gets blocked due to fatty deposits, it will not get blood at all and it will not do its function of pumping blood to the body. This is called Heart attack.
To diagnose disease of the Heart, Cardiologist - Heart Specialist Doctor will get ECG report done.
Also Know: - ECG is the graphical representation of the electrical activity of the heart.
That's it......The complete guide to Heart.
If you need to know more or have any question, leave a comment below to get answer from Doctor.......!