Exciting Facts and Terms about Human Heart !

We all know human heart has 4 chambers through which blood circulates. But do you know that this whole process of blood circulation in our body completes within 20 seconds and it pumps approximately 7600 litres of blood every day. Here are some very interesting facts about a human heart :

• The ‘red’ colour of our blood is due to haemoglobin in it otherwise it is colourless.
   
• Not only a female heart is bit smaller in size then a male’s heart but also it beats a little faster than a man’s heart.
   
• The sound of the heart is caused by the opening and closing the valves. A healthy human heart beats nearly 115,000 times in a day.
   
• Heart has its own electrical system and continues to beat till it has enough oxygen supply. This is why our heart can be alive and in working condition even if it removed from the body.
   
• Energy generated by the heart varies from 1 to 5 watts per minute.
   
• The number of blood vessels is enormous enough to cover up a line of (distance) 60,000 miles.
   
• In 1893, the first open-heart surgery was performed by Dr Daniel Hale Williams in the United States.
   
• First successful pacemaker was used in 1958. Patient name was Arne Larsson and he lived a healthy life till the age of 86 years.
   
• ‘Broken Heart’ term is not only used in fiction but it is also true in medical science. Broken heart syndrome is a condition where a person feels the symptom as heart attack but it is not due to any heart disease. This syndrome occurs in result of any emotional or physical trauma. It is not common but possible and may be cause of death in few cases.
   
• Cells in the heart stop splitting hence any case of heart cancer is rare and not known.

What is Coronary Systole and Diastole?

Coronary Systole: When cardiac muscle tissue narrows down to push the blood out of the heart chamber, the method is called systole.

Coronary Diastole: On the other hand, when the heart chamber is being filled with the blood, the cardiac muscle cells expand to relax. This process is called diastole.

In a normal condition, human heart chambers are found either in systole Or Diastole phase. Blood pressure increases in the main arteries during ventricular systole and decreases during ventricular diastole. This leads to high and low range of blood pressure—systolic blood pressure is the higher number and diastolic blood pressure is the lower number.

Different Sounds of the Human Heart

The echo generated with the functioning of the heart beat in and around the cardiac area is referred as the sound of the heart which is also known as cardiac sound. Usually medical health professionals use stethoscope to hear the heart sound during medical check-up to diagnose any health condition.

There are few different types of noise produced which are classified as first, second, third and fourth category of the heart sounds. While using stethoscope one can hear clearly 2 different types of primary heartbeat sound as ‘lubb’ and ‘dupp’ caused by the blood flow thrusting against the heart valves of the heart. In a healthy heart, both these sounds ‘lubb’ and ‘dupp’ is repeated in a regular pattern.

1. The first sound, pronounced as ‘lubb’ is heard low in tempo but stays longer. This noise occurs by closure of the two Atrioventricular(AV) valves namely mitral and tricuspid valves when ventricular contraction starts (systole). Cardiac muscle contraction is specific mechanical process that forces blood around the body.
    
2. The second sound ‘dupp’ is sharp but heard for the shorter time. This is produced by the closure of Semilunar (SL) valves (aortic and pulmonary) at the end of ventricular systole. Semilunar valves are positioned between each ventricle and the artery prevents blood to flow backwards.
    
3. The third sound is soft and low-pitched sound overlapping with early diastole and generated by vibrations of the ventricular wall. This sound is seldom clear and rarely heard.
    
4. The fourth sound is usually inaudible but measured by graphic methods. This sound also takes place during diastole, It is said to be the result of atrial contraction and the force of blood oozing out from the atria and hitting the ventricular wall.

 

It is believed in a medical fraternity that if there is any other sounds than these above mentioned four sounds such as fluid flowing point towards a functional problem in the heart or defects in the atrial or ventricular septum or leakage in the valves.