Med Term Unit 4 - ACC Summer 2026

septa

divide the chambers

interatrial septum

divide between atria

interventrical septum

divide the ventricles

endocardium

inner wall

myocardium

(muscle) middle wall

pericardium

sac surrounding entire heart

semilunar valve

valve in pulmonary artery and between LA and LV

arteries

take o2 blood away from heart

capillaries

microscopic, thin walled, gas exchange O2 for CO2

pulmonary artery

EXCEPTION FOR Oxygenated blood *it carries blood TO lungs FROM heart (without o2 blood) to get the O2 blood to transport throughout body after AORTA

veins

carry unoxygenated blood back to heart

ven/o or phleb/o

vein

pulmonary vein

EXCEPTION FOR unoxygenated blood *it carries blood TO heart FROM lungs with O2 blood to transport throughout body after AORTA

coronary arteries

the network of blood vessels that supply oxygenated blood directly to the heart muscle from aorta

atherosclerosis/arteriosclerosis

hardening of coronary arteries

CAD

coronary artery disease hardening of many coronary arteries

embolus (singular)

traveling thrombus (clot that formed)

thrombus

clot that formed somewhere

ischemia

held back blood, places aren’t getting the full flow of blood, in heart if there’s a thrombus then some coronary arteries don’t get enough blood (some blood gets through but not enough, sometimes goes away on its own)

angina

characteristic pain that forms in our chest (heart pain bc heart isn’t getting the o2 it needs)

Myocardial infarction (MI)

infarction = blocked, so if there’s a thrombus or an embolus happened and a coronary artery area is blocked, thats an MI = heart attack (no blood getting through)

systole

contraction/squeezing of heart

diastole

relaxation of the heart

BP

blood pressure, force/tension exerted on arterial walls

systolic BP

measuring how much pressure on arterial walls when heart contracts during systole

diastolic BP

measuring how much pressure on arterial walls when heart relaxes during diastolic (usually lower than systolic)

HTN

hypertension

rhabdomyo

striated muscle (four chambers?)

leiomyo

smooth muscles

myocardium feature

can operate independently of nervous system and can generate its own impulse from its specialized muscle tissue

SA node

sino-atrial node, where the electrical signal impulse is generated on its own, then this signal is transmitted through heart in electrical fibers

conduction system

specialized muscle fibers generate the electrical impulses
starts systole and travels to RA, then RV, then LA, then LV

AV node

atrioventricular node

NSR

normal sinus rhythm

ECG/EKG rhythm strip

electrocardiogram | the heartbeat line strip

Arrhythmia or dysrhythmia’s

without rhythm or difficulty with rhythm

tachycardia’s

fast heartbeat → flutter or fibrillation

atrial flutter (can live with that)

smth going on with conduction system, impulse not transmitting to atria properly

atrial fibrillation (can live with that)

like wobbly jello, quivering

ventrical flutter or fibrillation (Can’t live with that → fatal)

ur cooked, u need AED and defibrillator

Afib/Vfib/Vtach

rhythms - av and sa nodes

ECHO

echocardiogram = ultrasound that looks at blood flow through the heart

CABG

graphing diff artery around coronary artery to create new source of blood flow to tissue (procedure to detour blood flow around a clotted vessel)

Cath

catheter → done to diagnose or repair things going on with coronary artery

DVT

Deep Vein Thrombosis → clot in vein of leg

CHF

Congestive Heart Failure → heart unable to beat, causes backflow of fluid, known as heart failure

HDL

High Density Lipo-protein → “good cholesterol” type of protein-and-fat particle that carries cholesterol away from the tissues and bloodstream and returns it to the liver

propagation

continuation or movement

Purkinjean fibers

along ventricle walls that receive the electric signal to contract

arterial blood flow

largely dictated by nervous system and heart

venous blood flow

dictated by valves that are dependent on skeletal muscles, gravity, and deep breathing

chrom/o

color

erythr/o

red

leuk/o

white

eosin/o

nude or pink

composition of blood

45% whole blood cells, 55% plasma

whole blood cells

RBC, WBC, and platelets

in plasma

water, sugar, salt (electrolytes), vitamins, hormones, proteins (albumin, fibrinogen, etc)

hematopoietic stem cells

in bone marrow, all blood cells come from it, forms blood cells

erythrocytes

RBC → O2 transport, contains hemoglobin (heme iron, globin protein), live for 120 days

heme-

iron pigment

thrombocyte

platelets → helps blood clot

leukocytes

WBC → Never Let Monkeys Eat Bananas

• Granulocytes:

  • Neutrophil

  • Eosinophil

  • Basophil

• Agranulocytes:

  • Monocyte

  • Lymphocyte

Granulocytes

cells that have the grains, and are polymorphonuclear (many diff shapes and sizes of nuclei)

Agranulocytes

cells that don’t have the grains, mononuclear (one big nuclei in cell)

-emia

blood condition

-lytic

break apart

-osis

abnormal condition

-penia

deficiency of WBC

-stasis

stopping/controlling blood

-globin or -globulin

indication of proteins

coagulation

clotting

agluttination

clumping of cells

CBC

complete blood count, blood test abt platelets and nutrients and blood count normal

AB blood type

universal recipient

O- blood type

universal donor (O+ can only donate to +)

antigen vs antibody

for example, Type A blood: A antigen and anti-B antibody, Type O has no antigens but both antibodies

Transfusion reaction hemolysis

when blood cells fight against another type of blood cells

DIC

disseminated intravascular coagulation →widespread clotting within blood cells ( breaking down RBC then sending tiny blood clots throuhgout all of ur blood vessels → death)

Iron deficient anemia

Caused by a lack of iron for hemoglobin production

Aplastic anemia

Associated with pancytopenia → abnormally low levels of RBC, WBC, and platelets

Pernicious anemia

Condition of immature RBC's due to a lack of B12

Sickle cell anemia

A condition of sickle shaped erythrocytes

-phil

love root Greek

Monocytes

active in lymphatic system, become macrophages → responsible for eating or phagocytizing foreign invaders.

Lymphocytes

become B or T cells in lymphatic system

B-cell lymphocyte

secretes antibodies to invader (foreign antigen)

T-cell lymphocyte

further differentiate to helper T-cells (CD4), cytotoxic or killer T-cells (CD8), or suppressor or memory T-cells.

phlebotomy

drawing blood (or incision into vein)

LDL

Low Density Lipoprotein → bad cholesterol

Total cholesterol

< 200 mg/dl

PT

Prothrombin time → test for bleeding time

interstitial space

area between cells (when things seep out of a capillary’s thick walls, they enter this)

lypmh vessels

main system of recycling so our body can use things again, used by agranulocytes (patrol body looking for antigens)

lymph system function

one way system that picks up excess blood things (fluid filtered out from blood with less nutrients than plasma = lymph) and retunrs it back to circulatory system

lymph nodes

present where vessels converge, contain macrophages, lymphocytes, can be carried from lymph node to wherever lymphocytes needed

primary lymphoid organs

thymus, bone marrow (lymphocyte maturation, production, selection)

secondary lymphoid organs

lymph nodes, spleen, lymphoid nodules (encounter with pathogens)

lymphadenopathy

The term meaning disease of lymphnodes

lymphangiogram

The record created after injecting dye into lymph vessels