The role of heart valves

The human heart is an organ that never stops beating, and in general a cardiac arrest means death. The heart is divided into four chambers: the left atrium (connected to the pulmonary veins), the left ventricle (connected to the aorta), the right atrium (connected to the vena cava), and the right ventricle (connected to the pulmonary arteries), with valves connecting the atria to the ventricles and the ventricles to the arteries. The heart delivers blood to all organs of the body during systole and receives blood back during diastole. Under normal conditions, blood flow is unidirectional: left atrium → mitral valve → left ventricle → aortic valve → aorta → peripheral artery → capillaries → peripheral veins → vena cava → right atrium → tricuspid valve → right ventricle → pulmonary valve → pulmonary artery → pulmonary capillaries → pulmonary veins → left atrium, from which a new cycle begins again. The heart and blood vessels belong to the circulatory system of the human body, and the blood circulation provides the supply of oxygen and nutrition to the organs of the whole body, and the heart is the center, the power source of the circulation, like the engine of a car. The heart valve plays a decisive role in ensuring that blood flows smoothly in one direction without reverse flow. Heart valves are one-way open and closed valves, because the heart is a rhythmic contraction and diastole, atrial contraction, ventricular diastole, mitral valve, tricuspid valve open, aortic valve and pulmonary valve closed, blood from the atrium into the ventricle. When the ventricle contracts, the atrium dilates, the aortic and pulmonary valves open, the mitral and tricuspid valves close, and blood is ejected from the ventricle into the arteries. This opening and closing of the valves ensures that the blood always runs in one direction and that the heart itself is rested and supplied with blood during diastole, knowing that our heart cannot stop completely to rest. From the above, we can understand the importance of heart valves for circulatory operation and protection of heart function. If there is a problem with the valves, the heart and the entire circulatory system can go wrong.