Part 2 of B3: The Circulatory System, you should now know everything about the heart, how factors affect heart disease, how it works, how mechanical objects can help aid the circulatory system, and how blood pressure and electrical signals in the heart work.
Heart rate changes according
to what you are doing. When
you exercise, your heart rate
increases as your muscles
need more oxygen and the
heart has to supply that via
the blod,
The heart has a pacemaker
The heart is told how fast to beat by a group of cells called the pacemakers. These
cells produce a small electric current which spreads to the surrounding muscle cells
making them contract.
There are two clusters of these cells in the heart:
The sino-atrial node (SAN)
The atrio-ventricular node (AVN)
The SAN always produces an electrical current first. This contracts the atria and pumps blood through the valve to the ventricles. The AVN then produces an
electrical current and the ventricles contract, pumping blood out of the aorta or the pulmonary artery.
Artificial pacemakers
Sometimes if the AVN or SAN cells are not working properly, people will be given an artificial pacemaker. It is
used to control the heartbeat, and is implanted under the skin and has a wire meeting with the heart. It
produces an electric current and contracts the muscles.
You can measure heart rate using a variety of techniques:
ECGs
ECGs show the electrical activity of the heart, they can show heart attacks, or irregular heartbeats to conclude the general health of the heart.
P = atrium contract.
R = ventricles contract.
T = ventricles relax.
This is one heartbeat.
Echocardiogram is an ulstrasound scan of the heart. They can show
An enlarged heart:
This could indicate heart failure.
Decreased pumping ability
This could indicate if you have any diseases affecting the pumping ability of the heart.
Problems with valves
torn or infected valves can cause problems with blood flow.
Blood pressure
The blood has the be at a high pressure as it has to travel a
long way around the body. Your heart beats continuously to
keep blood moving.
When your heart muscle contracts, blood is forced out of the
heart and this increases the pressure of the blood.
When the heart muscle relaxes the heart fills with blood and the blood pressure decreases.
You can measure your blood
pressure by taking a reading of
the pressure of the blood against
the walls of an artery.
Blood pressure has two values. One's can be wrriten as 135 over 85. The higher value is the
pressure of the blood when the heart contracts, and the lower value is the pressure of the blood
when the heart relaxes.
A person's heart rate and blood pressure can be taken to see how healthy their heart is. A
normal heart rate is about 60-100bpm as everyone is different.
The inner lining of an artery is smooth, but high blood pressure can damage it. High blood pressure can damage the artery and let
fatty deposits build up. If this happens to a coronary artery (an artery that supplies the heart muscle with blood), then the muscles
will not receive oxygen and will stop functioning. This stops an area of the heart from working and causes a heart attack.
Heart Disease
Heart disease can be caused by a variety of lifestyle factors and genetic factors.
Epidemiological studies is the study of patterns of diseases and the factors that
affect them.
Poor diets are a lifestyle factor of heart disease. If you eat lots of
fatty foods or foods high in cholesterol, they could block arteries
and cause problems. A poor diet increases the chance of heart
disease
Stress increases blood pressure. If someone is
stressing over a long period of time this risen
blood pressure can damage arteries and allow
fatty deposits to build up. This increases the
chance of heart disease.
Cigarettes contain carbon monoxide and nicotine. Carbon monoxide reduces the amount of
oxygen the red blood cells can carry, this means if the heart muscle doesn't get enough oxygen,
it can lead to a hart attack. Nicotin
Misuse of illegal drugs like ecstasy and cannabis increase your heart rate
making your blood pressure risen, meaning there is an increase of risk of heart
disease. This is the same with alcohol which also risens the blood pressure.
Epidermologists study diseases and their
causing factors. They can take genetic studies of
all people with heart disease and ses if a gene
causes the disease or contributes to it, or they
can look at the similarities in lifestyle and diet
between people with heart disease too to see
the common cause of a disease.
Circulatory aids
If you lose a large volume of blood, you can be injected with a salt solution to add that volume for the heart to keep
pumping the red blood cells around your body. This will give you time to regenerate the cells without the need of a
transfusion. If not, a transfusion may be needed. An ideal artificial blood product would be ones that could replace red
blood cells, but right now there are many side effects to it.
Artifical hearts are also mechanical fixes for faulty hearts and are used a temporary solution until
a donor is found. Or sometimes they are permanent, meaning a donor is not needed.
Pros:
The mechanical heart is not
rejected by the body's immune
system.
Cons:
The mechanical heart could fail with an electric motor.
Blood doesn't flow as well as in the real heart, so drugs need to be taken to thin it. This is dangerous if you get cut.
Mechanical valves are easier to change, but there are still infectious problems with surgery and drugs need to be taken.
Using stents:
Stents are small tubes that are placed into the body to open up an artery.
Sometimes, if there is a high deposit of fats in an artery, the blood pressure will increase and there will be a bigger chance of heart disease. If the fatty deposit is in the coronary artery, it could be
very dangerous. So, a stent is placed in the artery which squashes the fat deposit and opens up the vein again for more blood flow.
It's good because it lowers the chance of heart disease and could stop a heart attack.
But it is bad as the stent could irritate the artery and make scar tissue
grow. Also, blood flow may be slowed down so drugs need to be taken
to thin the blood.