Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Keeping the blood
flow
- Types of blood vessels
- Artery
- Arteries have a small lumen so that they have a large pressure to make
sure the blood keeps flowing out of the heart. The thick elastic wall stops
the artery wall from breaking under the pressure. The high pressure
allows the arteries the carry large volumes of blood very quickly
- Capillary
- Capillaries have a small, single celled wall so
that they can diffuse materials easily through
the call walls and deliver them to where they're
needed
- Veins
- Veins have a large lumen and small walls
because they do not have to deal with large
pressures, the blood instead passes easily
through with little pressure as the veins carry
the blood back to the hears
- vessel structure
- Blocked vessels
- One reason vessels become blocked is due to a
build up of cholesterol this can be due to: lack of
exersize, bad diet, smoking, drinking and more
- The formation
of Atheroma
- As LDLs build up they can form a plaque
and this can eventually form an ulcer
which perpetuates the build up of LDLs
that eventually block the artery.
- Stents
- Stents help vessels to stay open when plaque
has built up by holding the vessel open
- People have stents because their
vessels have closed
- Valves
- Heart valves
- Heart valves stop blood from
flowing back into the heart
chamber after its been
pumped out
- If blood was allowed to flow
back into the heart then the
heart would be less efficient and
so cells would get less oxygen
- Valves are needed in the veins because the
relatively low pressure in them could mean that
that there was a backflow of blood, arteries do not
need valves because their high pressure means
there is little chance of back flow
- Valves could need to be replaced for two
reasons: the valve could be restricting the
flow of blood and the valve could be leaky
meaning that there was a backflow of blood
- Valve replacements
- Mechanical replacements
- Advantages
- Lifetimes durability
- Better survival rates
- Better efficience
- Disadvantages
- Must take blood thinner
- Noisy, can be bothersome to
some patients
- Increased chance of bleeding
- Can cause a stroke
- Organic replacements
- Advantages
- 50% of patients do not need a
blood thinner
- They are quiet and do not usually
make much noise
- Disadvantages
- Decreaced
survival rates
- Operation
must be
repeated
every 10 - 15
years
- Can cause
a stroke
- Overall I think that the best type of
replacement valve is the mechanical
valve because it lasts a lifetime and gives
the patient the highest chance of survival