A Heartbeat Away Trivia Quiz

The vena cava brings deoxygenated blood from the body back to the heart to be re-oxygenated. The superior vena cava gets blood from the upper half of the body while the inferior vena cava gets it from the lower half. In this case superior and inferior are not about importance they are instead being used in their anatomical sense to mean upper and lower.

The mitral valve is found on the left side of the heart. When left and right are used as labels relating to the heart they are from the point of view of the person whose heart it is rather than that of an observer. The mitral valve sits between the left atrium and left ventricle, it is a one way valve only allowing blood from the atrium into the ventricle.

The mitral valve is also sometimes called the bicuspid valve.

The pericardium is a sac filled with fluid that surrounds the heart. Its job is to act as a barrier to the heart, protecting it from infection and knocks. Sometimes the pericardium can become inflamed leading to a painful, but usually not serious, condition called pericarditis.

The tricuspid valve performs a similar job to the mitral valve but on the right side of the heart. It sits between the right atrium and right ventricle and ensures blood flows the correct way through the heart. Sometimes the tricuspid valve can become faulty and allow blood to flow the wrong way through the valve, something that is referred to as tricuspid regurgitation.

This can put more pressure on the heart and needs medical treatment to fix.

The right ventricle pushes deoxygenated blood into the pulmonary artery. There is also a left ventricle in the corresponding place on the opposite side of the heart. The right ventricle is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

The pulmonary arteries take deoxygenated blood from the heart to the lungs to be replenished with oxygen. Normally arteries carry oxygenated blood and veins deoxygenated blood but, because arteries are blood vessels that take blood away from the heart and veins return it, this blood vessel is an artery, as it is taking blood away from the heart even though it carries deoxygenated blood.

There are two pulmonary arteries, a left and a right, with each going to the corresponding lung.

The pulmonary veins bring oxygen rich blood from the lungs to the heart to be pumped around the rest of the body. It is called the pulmonary vein because pulmonary is a medical term for 'relating to the lungs', this term is derived from the Latin word for lungs.

The aorta is the largest artery in the human body and takes oxygenated blood from the heart to the rest of the body. The aorta starts at the heart and runs down through the abdomen with smaller blood vessels branching off to get blood to every area of the body.

The right atrium receives blood from the vena cava. The heart has two main phases of action, the diastole and the systole. The systole is the phase when the heart muscles contract to pump blood through the heart and round the body ,while the diastole is the phase when the heart muscle is relaxed.

The right atrium receives blood during the diastole phase before sending it into the right ventricle during the systole phase.

The aortic valve is a valve through which blood passes when leaving the heart to enter the aorta to be circulated through the body. The purpose of this valve is to only let blood out of the heart and stop it flowing back in, thus causing problems. If there is an issue with the aortic valve it can be replaced with either a valve made from synthetic material or one made from tissues from an animal.