Blood Vessels & Disease

What are arteries?

Arteries carry oxygenated blood away from the heart to the tissues of the body.

What are pulmonary arteries?

Pulmonary arteries carry deoxygenated blood to the lungs.

What are veins?

Veins carry deoxygenated blood from the body to the heart.

What are pulmonary veins?

Pulmonary veins carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart.

What are capillaries?

Capillaries are tiny blood vessels that connect arteries and veins.

What do capillaries do?

Capillaries exchange materials like oxygen and nutrients between blood and tissues.

What is the aorta?

The aorta is the largest artery in the body. Responsible for distributing oxygenated blood from the left ventricle in the heart to the rest of the body.

What do valves in veins do?

Valves in veins prevent the backflow of blood ensuring that it flows in one direction to the heart.

What is vasodilation?

Vasodilation is when blood vessels widen, this increased blood flow and decreases blood pressure.

Why does vasodilation happen?

Vasodilation happens in response to physical activity or increased temperature.

What is vasoconstriction?

Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of blood vessels, this decreases blood flow and increases blood pressure.

Why does vasoconstriction happen?

Vasoconstriction happens in response to cold temperatures or stress.

What are the risk factors of lung cancer?

Smoking
Air Pollution
exposure to radon gas or asbestos.

How does lung cancer spread?

Lung cancer spreads through the lymphatic system and bloodstream to the brain, liver or bones.

What are the risk factors of breast cancer?

The risk factors are obesity, alcohol, old age.

How does breast cancer spread?

Breast cancer spreads through the lymph nodes under the arm to lungs, liver or bones.

What are the risk factors for skin cancer?

The risk factors are over exposure to UV and fair skin.

How does skin cancer spread?

Melanoma spreads quickly via the blood and lymph nodes to internal organs.

What are the risk factors for bowel cancer?

The risk factors are diet high in red/processed meat, low fiber, obesity, age.

What is a mutation?

A mutation is where there is a change in base sequence / genes in DNA

How does cancer develop?

Cancer develops when DNA is damaged and loses the ability to regulate growth, mitosis, death. This is when a tumor forms.

Benign tumors (3 marks)

Slow growth, Don’t spread, Stays where it first developed

Malignant tumors (3 marks)

Fast growth, Spreads, invades tissues