Cardiovascular system and function

• Blood flow through the heart

  1. Superior vena cava and inferior vena cava carry deoxygenated blood from body to right atrium

  2. Blood flows from right atrium through tricuspid valve to right ventricle

  3. Blood flows from right ventricle through pulmonary valve to main pulmonary artery

  4. Deoxygenated blood travels through pulmonary arteries to lungs to become oxygenated

  5. Oxygenated blood travels through pulmonary veins to left atrium

  6. Blood flows from left atrium through mitral valve to left ventricle

  7. Blood flows from left ventricle through aortic valve to aorta

  8. Oxygenated blood delivered from aorta to rest of body
• Right side of heart

  • Pumps deoxygenated blood from body to lungs
• Left side of heart

  • Pumps oxygenated blood from lungs to body
• Steps in blood flow through right side of heart

  • Superior vena cava and inferior vena cava
  • Right atrium
  • Tricuspid valve
  • Right ventricle
  • Pulmonary valve
  • Main pulmonary artery
• Steps in blood flow through left side of heart

  • Pulmonary veins
  • Left atrium
  • Mitral valve
  • Left ventricle
  • Aortic valve
  • Aorta
• Similar pattern in blood flow through right and left sides of heart: blood vessels, atrium, valve, ventricle
• Animation provided to visualize blood flow through the heart
• The goal of the Easy Med channel is to save you time and studying and help you throughout your career by giving you clear explanations for different topics
• Every Easy Med video has an Easy Med blog linked down below in the description that correlates with the video and provides you with all the notes you need to know
• In this video, we're going to go over the main anatomical structures of the heart
• Chambers of the heart

  There are four main chambers labeled 1 through 4
• Chambers of the heart

  • Can be divided into a right side (chambers 1 and 2) and a left side (chambers 3 and 4)
  • The two chambers on top are the atria and the two chambers on the bottom are the ventricles
• Atria


  The two chambers on top
• Ventricles


  The two chambers on the bottom
• The easy way to remember the atria are located superiorly and the ventricles are located inferiorly is to think of the alphabet - a comes before v
• Tricuspid valve


  Located between the right atrium and the right ventricle
• Mitral valve

  Located between the left atrium and the left ventricle
• Atrioventricular valves


  • The tricuspid and mitral valves are located between the atria and ventricles
• The tricuspid valve is on the right side and the mitral valve is on the left side
• Tricks to remember tricuspid vs mitral valve location

  • Try it before you buy it
  • The word 'try' and 'tricuspid' both have 3 letters, and the right lung has 3 lobes
  • The word 'bi' in bicuspid refers to 2, and the left lung has 2 lobes
• Pulmonary valve

  Located between the right ventricle and the main pulmonary artery
• Aortic valve

  Located between the left ventricle and the aorta
• The function of the valves is to prevent the backward flow of blood into the previous chamber
• Blood flow through the heart

  1. Deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium

  2. Flows through the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle

  3. Exits the right ventricle through the pulmonary valve to the lungs

  4. Oxygenated blood enters the left atrium

  5. Flows through the mitral valve to the left ventricle

  6. Exits the left ventricle through the aortic valve to the body
• Superior vena cava

  Carries deoxygenated blood from the upper body to the right atrium
• Inferior vena cava

  Carries deoxygenated blood from the lower body to the right atrium
• Main pulmonary artery (pulmonary trunk)

  Carries deoxygenated blood from the right ventricle to the lungs
• Pulmonary veins

  Carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the left atrium
• Aorta

  Carries oxygenated blood from the left ventricle to the body
• The right side of the heart delivers deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and the left side delivers oxygenated blood to the body
• There is an Easy Med video that goes into more detail on the cardiac cycle and pressure changes in the heart
• The video provides instructions to label a diagram of the heart and its structures