4. The Normal Heart

Hello after a small gap! 

         My next series of blogs will focus on the normal heart and circulation. We will look at what happens in the circulation of the unborn baby and how this changes after birth.

How does a normal heart work?

          The normal heart has 4 chambers, 2 on the right side and 2 on the left side. The upper chamber on the right side is called the right atrium (RA) and the lower chamber is called the right ventricle (RV). Similarly the upper chamber on the left side is the left atrium (LA) and the lower chamber is the left ventricle (LV). There are valves between the upper (collecting) and lower (pumping) chambers on both sides of the heart. The left sided valve is the ‘mitral valve’ and the right sided valve is the ‘tricuspid valve’.

The right sided chambers contain oxygen poor or blue blood and the left sided chambers contain oxygen rich or red blood. The right and left sides of the heart are separated by a wall. The wall between the upper chambers is the atrial septum and the wall between the lower chambers is called the ventricular septum.

‘Blue’ blood from the right pumping chamber is pumped into the lungs through a vessel (tube) called the pulmonary artery. ‘Red’ blood from the left pumping chamber is pumped into the body through a vessel called the aorta.