The Heart

The Heart
The

heart itself is made up of 4 chambers, 2 atria

and 2 ventricles.
Under the control of the autonomic nervous
system (sympathetic and parasympathetic).

Systolic blood pressure -

diastolic blood pressure -

Pressure created in the

arteries by the
contraction of the left
ventricle.
The left ventricle has fully
contracted it begins to relax
and refill with blood from
the left atria. The pressure
in the arteries falls whilst
the ventricle refills.

Cardiac cycle
Cardiac cycle is the sequence of events

that occurs when the heart beats

2 phases of the cardiac cycle :
Diastole phase - heart ventricles
are relaxed and the heart fills with
blood.
Systole phase
- ventricles
contract and pump blood to the
arteries.

1st Diastole Phase

Atria and ventricles are relaxed and the

atrioventricular valves are open.

De-oxygenated blood from the superior and
inferior vena cavae flows into the right atrium.
The open atrioventricular valves allow blood to
pass through to the ventricles.
The SA node contracts triggering the atria to
contract.
The right atrium empties its contents into the
right ventricle.
The tricuspid valve prevents the blood from
flowing back into the right atrium.

1st Systole Phase

The

right ventricle receives impulses from the

Purkinje fibers and contracts.
The atrioventricular valves close and the semilunar
valves open.
The de-oxygenated blood is pumped into the
pulmonary artery.
The pulmonary valve prevents the blood from
flowing back into the right ventricle.
The pulmonary artery carries the blood to the
lungs.
There the blood picks up oxygen and is returned to
the left atrium of the heart by the pulmonary
veins.

2nd Diastole Phase

The

semilunar valves close and the

atrioventricular valves open.
Blood from the pulmonary veins fills the left
atrium. (Blood from the vena cava is also filling
the right atrium.)
SA node contracts again triggering the atria to
contract.
Left atrium empties its contents into the left
ventricle.
Mitral valve prevents the oxygenated blood from
flowing back into the left atrium.

2nd Systole Phase

The

atrioventricular valves close and the

semilunar valves open.
The left ventricle receives impulses from the
Purkinje fibers and contracts.
Oxygenated blood is pumped into the aorta.
The aortic valve prevents the oxygenated blood
from flowing back into the left ventricle.
The aorta branches out to provide oxygenated
blood to all parts of the body.
The oxygen depleted blood is returned to the
heart via the vena cavae.

Cardiovascular System
Cardiac

cycle is vital to proper cardiovascular

system function.
Comprised of the heart and the circulatory
system, the cardiovascular system transports
nutrients to and removes gaseous waste from
the cells of the body.
The heart and its cardiac cycle provide the
"muscle" needed to pump blood throughout the
body, while blood vessels act as pathways to
transport blood to its destination.
The driving force behind the cardiac cycle is
cardiac conduction.

Cardiac conduction
The

electrical system that powers the

cardiac cycle and the cardiovascular
system. It is what causes the heart
muscle to contract, sending nerve
impulses that travel throughout the heart
wall.

Heart is able to create it's own electrical impulses and control

the route the impulses take via a specialized conduction
pathway.
This pathway is made up of 5 elements:

The sino-atrial (SA) node -The natural pacemaker of the

heart.

The atrio-ventricular (AV) node stimulus delayed briefly

to allow atria to pump all blood into ventricles.

The bundle of His

The left and right bundle branches

The Purkinje fibers

3 stages of a single heart beat

Atrial depolarisation - the release
(discharge) of an electrical stimulus
Ventricular depolarisation
Atrial and Ventricular repolarisation - recharging

ECG Machine

designed to recognize and

record any electrical activity within the heart. It prints
out this information on ECG paper made up of small
squares 1mm squared.

ECG
A standard ECG is printed at 25mm per second or 25 small squares
per second (see above). In this way it is possible to calculate the
duration of individual waves.
10 small squares vertically is equal to 1 millivolt amount of voltage being released within the heart

Calculate the

The direction in which the waves point indicates whether electricity is

moving towards or away from a particular lead.
General direction in which electricity normally travels through the
heart is a downward diagonal line from the right shoulder to the left
lower abdomen.

Electrical stimulus originates in the SA node (upper right side

of the heart), travels through the AV node and bundle of His,
and finishes mainly in the left ventricle. (remember that there
is more conduction in the left ventricle).

ECG SAMPLE

ECG Lead Placement

EGC 6 LEADS PLACE MENT

Angle of louis
2nd Intercostal space
4th intercostal space