Cardiac Structure & Function

• Cardiac Structure and Function:

  • The heart is a pump; indeed, it is 2 quite separate pumps (a left and a right one), which contract in unison to provide a continuous flow of blood around the systemic and pulmonary vascular systems.
• Cardiac Structure & Function:

  • heart is enclosed in a fibrous sac of connective tissue - the PERICARDIUM
  • pericardium is composed of 2 layers
  • outer layer is fibrous pericardium, which overlays serous pericardium
  • serous pericardium is double layered - consists of parietal & visceral layers
  • outer layer of serous pericardium is parietal layer - lines the internal aspect of fibrous pericardium
  • At superior aspect of the heart the parietal layer folds on itself to form the visceral pericardium
  • visceral pericardium lies on top of myocardium, becoming part of heart wall and is known as epicardium