Hi, glad you're here. In this lecture, we will begin our exploration of medical terminology as it relates to the cardiovascular system. Let's get started. Without a doubt, this lecture has "heart". Get it? Cardiovascular? Heart? The cardiovascular system has two main parts, cardio- or the heart, and vascular or the blood vessels. Together, they are able to transport substances throughout the entire body. Fun fact. Did you know that your heart pumps about 2000 gallons of blood every day and it can be even when not attached to the human body? Amazing! It's slightly creepy. Let's begin by looking at the basic purposes and anatomy of the cardiovascular system. The cardiovascular system contains blood vessels that reach almost every tissue in the body, and a heart capable of pumping blood through the entire network of vessels. This makes it an ideal transportation system. Nutrients and oxygen can be delivered rapidly anywhere and everywhere. Waste products are removed for excretion. Hormones also travel through the bloodstream, allowing for systematic communication and coordinated responses. In short, the cardiovascular system allows for transportation and communication. Roger that, ten four, good buddy. Kabiri Ninety Niner. Over now. And let's start with a very basic look at the anatomy of the heart. The human heart has four chambers. The top two chambers are called atria or the right and left atrium. That's the singular form. They are smaller and have thinner walls as compared to the bottom two chambers, or ventricles. The atria received blood into the heart. The right atrium gets blood from the body and the left atrium gets blood returning from the lungs. The right and left ventricle are responsible for pumping blood away from the heart. The right ventricle sends deoxygenated blood into the lungs to get oxygen. And the left ventricle sends the oxygenated blood out to the rest of the body. The heart also has four valves that make sure blood flows in only one direction. One way. You do not need to label their location, but do need to be familiar with the names and where they are located. The tricuspid and bicuspid valve separates the right atrium from the right ventricle, and the left atrium from the left ventricle, respectively. They are both known as atrial ventricular valves because they separate the atria from the ventricles. Deep stuff. The pulmonary valve separates the right ventricle from the pulmonary artery. And the aortic valve separates the left ventricle from the aorta to the heart. At any given point in time there are two circulation patterns going on simultaneously in the cardiovascular system, pulmonary and systemic. The pulmonary circulation takes deoxygenated blood to the lungs. And then returns the oxygenated blood to the heart. Pulmonary circulation equals heart to lung to heart. The systemic circulation takes oxygenated blood from the heart to the body, and returns the deoxygenated blood from the body back to the heart. Systemic circulation equals heart to body to heart. Working together. These two systems ensure a steady supply of oxygenated blood to the heart to send out to the body, and a way to return deoxygenated blood from the body to the lungs. Putting it all together here is the basic pattern of blood flow through the cardiovascular system. Deoxygenated blood from the body enters the right atrium of the heart. It then goes into the right ventricle where it is pumped out to the lungs for oxygen. From the lungs, oxygenated blood returns to the left atrium of the heart, where it has moved into the left ventricle to be pumped out to the body. Repeat [SOUND]. Like a skipping record the circulatory pattern repeats over 100,000 times a day. Do you even know what a record is? That thing in the picture? Ask your grandparents. Finally, there are three main types of blood vessels. Arteries take blood away from the heart. Artery and away both began with the letter A. That should help you remember. Veins bring blood back to the heart and capillaries are the teeny tiniest blood vessels where exchange of oxygen nutrients and waste between the blood and tissues occurs. And now for a 10-second brain break. [MUSIC] Welcome back. Recall that the cardiovascular system contains the heart and blood vessels. We will look at new word roots pertaining to the heart first. Take heart. You can do it. First up the most common roots for the cardiovascular system, cardi/o and coron/o. Both mean heart, like the organ in your body, not the shape shown here. By the way, did you know that the amorous heart shape has been around since 1250? A useless trivia. But interesting. What is not useless is the knowledge that cardi/o and coron/o are both word roots for heart. Next up, atri/o. Atri/o means atrium, or one of the two upper chambers of the heart. The right atrium is indicated by the arrow shown here. Ventricul/o means ventricle, or one of the two bottom chambers of the heart. The right ventricle is indicated by the arrow. The root valv/o is a tough one. What could valv/o mean? Heart, leg, armpit? Nope. Valv/o means valve, as in the right atrial ventricular valve or tricuspid valve shown here. Our final new word root related to the heart is sept/o. Sept/o means septum or something that divides something in half. In the heart the septum divides the right side of the heart from the left side of the heart. You also have a septum in your nose that divides your right nostril from your left. Septum, a divider of halves. In the previous section, we focused on word roots related to the heart portion of the cardiovascular system. The following section will focus on the roots for the blood vessels. The most general roots pertaining to blood vessels are angi/o, vas/o, and vascul/o, which all mean vessel. You can see them in words like angiogram which is an image of the blood vessels, vasoconstriction which is a narrowing of the blood vessels, and vascular which means pertaining to the blood vessels. Much like the sea-worthy vessels shown here, your blood vessels transport things all over the world. I mean your body. Our next word root refers to a specific vessel, the aort/o. The aorta, shown here by the arrow, is the main vessel sending oxygenated blood out from the heart to the body. From the aorta, it will travel into the arteries. Aort/o means aorta. Speaking of arteries, arteri/o means artery or the vessels that carry blood away from the heart. Remember that artery and away both start with A. Arteries are generally pictured as red vessels, since most of them carry oxygenated blood. Phleb/o and ven/o both mean vein or the blood vessels that carry blood towards the heart. They are generally pictured as blue vessels, since most of them carry deoxygenated blood. Finally, the root ather/o means fatty plaque. As in the stuff that clogs up your arteries. It can be seen in the word atherosclerosis and it can come from fatty foods like pizza. And no, making a pizza in the shape of a heart does not make it good for your heart. Sorry, but nice try. As with all good things, this lecture too must come to an end. Thanks for exploring introductory terms and roots related to the cardiovascular system with me. See you next time.
