Directional Terms
This term refers to the direction towards the front of the body, also describing the position of the heart relative to the spine.
What is anterior?
This chamber of the heart pumps deoxygenated blood into the lungs via the pulmonary artery.
What is the right ventricle?
These vessels have thicker walls and more elastic fibers to withstand and maintain high-pressure blood flow from the heart.
What are arteries?
This chamber of the heart receives deoxygenated blood from the body via the superior and inferior vena cava.
What is the right atrium?
This part of the heart holds blood that came from the SVC and IVC.
What is the right atrium?
This term describes the position of the heart relative to the lungs.
What is medial?
This valve prevents the backflow of blood into the left atrium from the left ventricle.
What is the mitral (or bicuspid) valve?
Unlike arteries, these vessels contain valves to prevent the back flow of blood, particularly in the lower extremities.
What are veins?
After leaving the right atrium, blood passes through this valve before entering the right ventricle.
What is the tricuspid valve?
I am the natural pacemaker of the heart.
What is the SA node?
The apex of the heart points in this direction, describing its orientation within the thoracic cavity.
What is inferior?
This major vessel carries oxygenated blood from the lungs back to the heart.
What is the pulmonary vein?
Unlike most arteries that carry oxygenated blood, this artery is an exception, carrying deoxygenated blood to the lungs for oxygenation.
What is the pulmonary artery?
The small vessels that return deoxygenated blood from the heart muscle itself back into the right atrium are known as these.
What are the coronary veins?
Originating from this part of the heart, the P-wave is created, which is the depolarization of the atria.
What is the SA node?
The term that describes the relative position of the left atrium of the heart compared to the right ventricle.
What is superior?
This muscular layer of the heart wall is responsible for the powerful contractions that pump blood throughout the body.
What is the myocardium?
The largest of these veins, responsible for draining the upper half of the body, directly empties into the right atrium of the heart.
What is the superior vena cava?
After passing through the pulmonary capillaries for gas exchange, blood enters these specific small vessels before reaching the pulmonary veins.
What are the pulmonary venules?
A change in blood pressure measured as blood completes the cycle from arterial blood to venous blood.
What is total peripheral resistance (TPR)?
This directional term describes the location of the base of the heart.
What is posterior/dorsal?
This helps cardiac development and regeneration by enveloping the heart.
What is the epicardium?
Unlike veins, arteries are typically located deeper within the body, except for these superficial arteries that can be felt for a pulse, such as in the wrist.
What are the radial or ulnar arteries?
Oxygenated blood in the left atrium passes through the mitral valve into the left ventricle during this specific phase of the cardiac cycle.
What is diastole?
A collection site for deoxygenated blood from the heart that will be drained into the right atrium.
What is the coronary sinus?