How does the human heart function, and what are diseases that can make the heart fail?
lola
How does the heart function. I want a very detailed and intelligent answer. Also, if you can, please name ALL the diseases or things that can make a heart fail. If you want you can put extra things about the human heart you think I’d like to learn about. :] thanks!
You’ve asked a very general question so I shall give a very general answer and rely on you to look up the pages I direct you to for further detail. Email me if you need further info.
The human heart is a muscular pump.
Have a look at the wiki pages to see the pictures and some good diagrams.
The heart is a four chambered pump receiving oxygenated blood from the lungs (via pulmonary veins) and pumping it to the body via the aorta. Simultaneously the right side of the heart receives deoxygenated blood from the body (via the venae cavae) and pumps it to the lungs via the pulmonary arteries.
The heart muscle differs from the other muscles in the body in that it is striated like skeletal muscle and yet it functions involuntarily like the smooth muscle. Have a look at the pages on cardiac muscle for more details on the physiology.
Heart diseases can be classified into:
congenital heart diseases
ischaemic heart disease
valvular heart disease
cardiomyopathies
myocarditis
There are some external diseases that can cause the heart to fail:
tension pneumothorax
pulmonary embolism
cardiac tamponade
shock (cardiogenic, hypovolaemic, anaphylactic, septic, neurogenic)
Most other conditions will cause one of these end-stage pathways to occur. For instance, trauma may cause hypovolaemic shock or cardiogenic shock via cardiac tamponade.