Cardiovascular System

Word Parts

angi/o: vessel

aort/o: aorta

ateri/o: artery

ather/o: fatty

atri/o: atrium

brady-: slow

cardi/o: heart

coron/o: crown

-ecstasis: dilation, expansion

-emia: blood

endo-: inner, within

erythr/o: red

-gram: written record

hem/o: blood

hemat/o: blood

isch: restricting, narrowing

leuk/o: white

my/o: muscle

peri-: around, surrounding

phleb/o: vein

-stenosis: narrowing

tachy-: fast

brady-: slow

thromb/o: clot

valv/o: valve

valvul/o: valve

varic/o: dilated

vas/o: vessel

ven/o: vein

ventric/o: ventricle

Abbreviations

A-fib: atrial fibrillation

AV: atrioventricular

BP: blood pressure

CABG: coronary artery bypass graft

CAD: coronary artery disease

CCU: cardiac care unit

CHF: congestive heart failure

DIC: disseminated intravascular coagulation

DVT: deep vein thrombosis

ECG/EKG: electrocardiogram, electrocardiograph, electrocardiography

Hb: hemoglobin

Structure and Function

Cardiovascular system consists of:

• Heart

• Blood

• Blood vessels

  • Arteries

  • Veins

  • Capillaries

Cardiac: pertaining to the heart

Coronary: pertaining to the crown or encircling (reference to around the heart)

Pericardial: pertaining to the pericardium

Vascular: pertaining to blood vessels

Cardiovascular System Functions

• Forms transportation system that delivers oxygen and nutrients to body’s cells

• Returns carbon dioxide and wastes to be eliminated

• Helps regulate body temperature

• Heart pumps blood within blood vessels to all parts of the body

Pulmonary circuit: passage of blood from heart’s right ventricle, through lung’s pulmonary arteries, back through pulmonary veins to heart’s left atrium

Systemic circuit: circulation of blood through arteries, capillaries, and veins of general system

Heart

• Four-chambered hollow organ with three layers

  • Apex: lowermost tip

  • Endocardium: innermost layer

  • Myocardium: middle layer; actual heart muscle and thickest of three layers

  • Epicardium: outer layer; surrounded by pericardium, a sac that surrounds the heart

• Heart Chambers

  • Right atrium: upper right chamber that receives blood from all body parts except lungs; receives deoxygenated blood from the vena cava

  • Right ventricle: lower right chamber that receives blood from right atrium and pumps it to the lungs

  • Left atrium: upper left chamber that receives oxygen-rich blood as it returns from the lungs

  • Left ventricle: lower left chamber that pumps blood out of aorta to all parts of the body

  

• Superior and inferior vena cava: large vein carrying deoxygenated blood to the right atrium

• Right atrium: receives deoxygenated blood and pumps it to the right ventricle

• Tricuspid valve: the valve between the right atrium and the right ventricle

• Right ventricle: pumps deoxygenated blood from the heart to he lungs for oxygenation

• Pulmonary valve: controls the flow of blood from the heart to the lugs

• Pulmonary arteries: blood vessels that carry deoxygenated blood from right ventricle to the lungs for oxygenation

• Pulmonary veins: carries oxygenated blood to the left atrium

• Left atrium: receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it into the left ventricle

• Mitral valve: keeps blood moving in the right direction from left atrium to left ventricle

• Left ventricle: pumps oxygenated blood throughout the body

• Aortic valve: regulated the flow of blood from left ventricle into the aorta

• Aorta: largest artery in the body; transport oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body

Conducting system of heart generates and transmits signals that stimulate heart to contract and relax in sequence

• Sino-atrial (SA) node: pacemaker of the heart

• Atrioventricular (AV) nod

• Bundle of His

• Purkinje fibers

Blood Vessels

• Arteries: carry oxygenated blood away from the heart

  • Arterioles: smaller branches of the arteries; small vessels that receive blood from the arteries

• Capillaries: blood vessels that connect arterial and venous systems; microscopic vessels through which exchanges take place between the blood and cells of the body

• Veins: blood vessels that return blood back to the heart

  • Venules: smaller branches of the veins; smaller vessels that gather blood from the capillaries into the veins

• Lumen: tubular space through which blood flows

  • Vasodilation: lumen opened

  • Vasoconstriction: lumen closed

  • Vasodilation and vasoconstriction can each have an effect on blood pressure (BP)

Blood Elements

• Plasma

• Erythrocytes: red blood cells (RBCs)

  • Main function is to transport oxygen

• Leukocytes: white blood cells (WBCs)

  • Body’s main defense against harmful organisms

    • Neutrophils

    • Eosinophils

    • Basophils

    • Lymphocytes

    • Monocytes

• Thrombocytes: platelets

  • Play important role in blood-clotting process

Types of Donors and Recipients

Heartbeat

• Heart contracts and releases in a rhythmic cycle

• Systole = contraction

• Diastole = relaxation

• Heart rate (HR) = number of contractions per minute

• Blood pressure: measurement of amount of pressure exerted against walls of blood vessels; pressure exerted by the blood upon the walls of the blood vessels, especially arteries.

  • Recorded as a fractional number, systolic over diastolic

  • Measured by an instrument called sphygmomanometer (BP cuff)

  • Expressed in mmHg

Electrocardiogram (ECG, EKG): electrical activity of heart recorded

Electrocardiograph: machine that does the recording

Angiogram: x-ray of blood vessels following injection with radio-opaque material

Echocardiogram: ultrasound of the heart

Diseases

Coronary artery disease (CAD): narrowing of lumen of one or more coronary arteries, usually due to atherosclerosis; disease of arteries surrounding the heart

Atherosclerosis: progressive buildup of plaque or fatty deposits on inner arterial walls, lumen narrows → hardening and narrowing of the arteries

Hyperlipidemia: increased blood fat (lipid)

• High-density lipoproteins (HDLs)

• Low-density lipoproteins (LDLs)

Arteriosclerosis: hardening and loss of elasticity in artery impeding blood flow to heart muscle caused by fatty deposits

Ischemia: inadequate supply of blood and oxygen to tissues

Thrombus: blood clot in a blood vessel

Thrombosis: formation of a thrombus

Embolus: blood clot that moves throughout the bloodstream

Myocardial infarction (MI): heart attack, results from lack of oxygen supply to myocardium

• Symptoms include: chest pain (feeling as if elephant is sitting on chest), diaphoretic, jaw pain, indigestion, pain radiating down the left arm

Congestive heart failure (CHF): heart cannot pump enough blood to meet body’s needs for oxygen and nutrients

Arrhythmia: any irregularity of heart’s rhythm

• Bradycardia: slower than normal HR

• Tachycardia: faster than normal HR

Fibrillation: rapid, random, and ineffective contractions of the heart

Atrial fibrillation (A-fib): atria beats faster than ventricles; rapid, random, and ineffective contraction of the atrium. Most common arrhythmia

Ventricular fibrillation: ventricles ineffectively pump blood, can be fatal

Hypertension: high blood pressure (the force of the blood pushing against artery walls is consistently too high)

• Systolic reading > 140 mmHg or diastolic > 90 mmHg

• Secondary hypertension: related to another medical problem

Arteriosclerosis: hardening of the arteries

Left ventricular hypertrophy: oversized left ventricle

Cyanosis: a bluish discoloration of the skin resulting from poor circulation or inadequate oxygenation of the blood

Deep Vein Thrombosis: blood clot forms in a large vein, usually in a lower limb

Phlebitis: inflammation of a vein

Murmur: abnormal swishing sound of the heart

Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD): a hole in the interventricular septum; occurs during pregnancy

Myocarditis: inflammation of the heart muscle

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF): Rare heart condition where baby is born with four different heart problems that cause altered blood flow through heart and body

Blood Disorders

• Anemia: deficiency of RBC or low level of Hb

• Leukemia: increased number of WBCs

• Clotting disorders

  • Hemophilia: genetic bleeding disorder that impairs the body's ability to form blood clots, leading to prolonged bleeding

  • Thrombocytopenia: abnormal decrease in number of thrombocytes or platelets

  • Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)

Treatments

Antiarrhythmic medication: drug used to treat heart rhythm abnormalities

Cardioversion: treatment for fibrillation; applying electric current to restore normal heart rhythm

Ablation therapy: apply radio frequency waves to the heart

Surgical procedures:

• Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA)

  • Angioplasty: procedure that involves opening up a narrowed or blocked blood vessel → surgical repair of blood vessel

• Arterial stent

• Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)

• Endarterectomy

Statin: medicine to take for hypercholesterolemia

Aspirin: can be given to someone with heart attack symptoms

Practitioners

Cardiologist: diagnose and treat heart disorders

Cardiovascular surgeons: surgically correct disorders of cardiovascular system

Hematologist: treat disorders of the blood