Blood pressure is maximum during ventricular ________, when the heart ventricles contract.

Overview

The heart has four chambers and four main blood vessels that either bring blood to the heart, or carry blood away.

The four chambers are the right atrium and right ventricle and the left atrium and left ventricle. The blood vessels include the superior and inferior vena cava. These bring blood from the body to the right atrium. Next is the pulmonary artery that carries blood from the right ventricle to the lungs. The aorta is the body's largest artery. It carries oxygen-rich blood from the left ventricle to the rest of the body.

Beneath the tough fibrous coating of the heart, you can see it beating.

Inside the chambers are a series of one-way valves. These keep the blood flowing in one direction.

Dye injected into the superior vena cava, will pass through all the heart's chambers during one cardiac cycle.

Blood first enters the heart's right atrium. A muscle contraction forces the blood through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle.

When the right ventricle contracts, blood is forced through the pulmonary semilunar valve into the pulmonary artery. Then it travels to the lungs.

In the lungs, the blood receives oxygen then leaves through the pulmonary veins. It returns to the heart and enters the left atrium.

From there, blood is forced through the mitral valve into the left ventricle. This is the muscular pump that sends blood out to the rest of the body.

When the left ventricle contracts, it forces blood through the aortic semilunar valve and into the aorta.

The aorta and its branches carries the blood to all the body's tissues.

Updated by: Michael A. Chen, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

Blood pressure is maximum during ventricular ________, when the heart ventricles contract.

Blood pressure is maximum during ventricular ________, when the heart ventricles contract.

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Blood pressure is maximum during ventricular ________, when the heart ventricles contract.

Application:

•  Pressure changes in the left atrium, left ventricle and aorta during the cardiac cycle

    
The cardiac cycle describes the series of events that take place in the heart over the duration of a single heart beat

  • It is comprised of a period of contraction (systole) and relaxation (diastole)


Systole

  • Blood returning to the heart will flow into the atria and ventricles as the pressure in them is lower (due to low volume of blood)
  • When ventricles are ~70% full, atria will contract (atrial systole), increasing pressure in the atria and forcing blood into ventricles
  • As ventricles contract, ventricular pressure exceeds atrial pressure and AV valves close to prevent back flow (first heart sound)
  • With both sets of heart valves closed, pressure rapidly builds in the contracting ventricles (isovolumetric contraction)
  • When ventricular pressure exceeds blood pressure in the aorta, the aortic valve opens and blood is released into the aorta


Diastole

  • As blood exits the ventricle and travels down the aorta, ventricular pressure falls 
  • When ventricular pressure drops below aortic pressure, the aortic valve closes to prevent back flow (second heart sound)
  • When the ventricular pressure drops below the atrial pressure, the AV valve opens and blood can flow from atria to ventricle
  • Throughout the cycle, aortic pressure remains quite high as muscle and elastic fibres in the artery wall maintain blood pressure

Overview of Cardiac Cycle Events

Blood pressure is maximum during ventricular ________, when the heart ventricles contract.

Pressure Changes in Left Side of Heart During the Cardiac Cycle

Blood pressure is maximum during ventricular ________, when the heart ventricles contract.

Link:  Interactive Cardiac Cycle Tutorial

What is the maximum pressure of contraction in the ventricles of the heart called?

The reading is given as, for example, 140 over 90 mm Hg. The systolic pressure is the higher figure caused by the heart's contraction, while the diastolic number is the lower pressure in the arteries during the brief “resting” period between heartbeats.

Is blood pressure highest during ventricular systole?

Throughout the cardiac cycle, the arterial blood pressure increases during the phases of active ventricular contraction and decreases during ventricular filling and atrial systole. Thus, there are two types of measurable blood pressure: systolic during contraction and diastolic during relaxation.

During which phase of contraction is blood pressure highest?

During each contraction of the left ventricle (termed systole), the highest systemic pressure generated within the arteries is termed the “systolic pressure.” When the left ventricle stops contracting, the heart valve controlling outflow from the left ventricle into the aorta closes and the left ventricle relaxes and ...

What happens when the ventricular blood pressure rises during ventricular contraction?

The left ventricle contracts isovolumetrically until the ventricular pressure exceeds the systemic pressure, which opens the aortic valve and results in ventricular ejection. Bulging of the mitral valve into the left atrium during isovolumetric contraction causes a slight increase in left atrial pressure (c wave).