Introduction
The purpose of the cardiovascular system (heart
and blood vessels) is to provide the cells of the body with oxygen, nutrition,
and essential fluids. It also helps these same cells rid themselves of waste
products, and distributes hormones and enzymes to allow for normal physiologic
processes. It is even a big part of temperature regulation. All of this is no
small feat when you consider the fact that the cardiovascular system must supply
these needs to a body that contains billions of individual cells.
The cardiovascular system is very
complicated and does not lend itself to a simple explanation and
categorization of its functions. Therefore, the sections on
physiology and pathophysiology are a little complex, but if you get
through them it will help in your understanding when we talk about
specific diseases along with their diagnosis and treatment. You may
need to go through them more than once. You might notice that we
repeat important concepts more than once, and from different angles.
Hopefully this will help put it all together. You can bypass all the
background information and go directly to specific diseases like
Heartworm,
Cardiomyopathy,
and Valve
disease, the most common heart diseases we encounter. We also have a
summary
page on Heart Disease if
you find this page contains more detail than you need. It will give
you background information but in a condensed format.
This page has actual pictures of
the heart and the organs of the chest. Most people will not be
bothered by their graphic nature, and will actually find them
fascinating.
The mechanisms of heart failure in
the dog and cat are very similar to humanoids. The explanation of
congestive heart failure applies directly to people in many cases.
The main drugs used to treat heart failure are almost identical in
people and animals.
We have a few short videos on this
page, you will need QuickTime from www.apple.com to view
them
This
is the heart of a 50 pound dog. It is about the size of
your fist. You can easily see some of the coronary
arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle in the
same manner that the heart supplies blood to the rest of
the body. This organ starts beating before birth, and
continues until death. Think of how many beats that is in
the lifetime of any living organism!
Later
in this page we will be referring to the right heart and
left heart, which might give you the impression there are
two hearts. There is only one heart- we do this only
because it helps to understand the flow of blood through
the heart.
Glossary
of heart terminology
|
cardiac-
pertaining to the heart
|
aerobic- dependent
on oxygen for normal physiology
|
|
arrhythmia-
irregular heart beat
|
anaerobic- not
dependent on oxygen for normal physiology
|
|
murmur-abnormal
flow of blood through the heart valves
|
anemia- low number
of red blood cells
|
|
atrium-two of the
smaller heart chambers
|
systole- when the
heart muscle contracts and ejects blood to the
arteries
|
|
ventricles- two of
the larger heart chambers
|
diastole- when the
heart relaxes after systole and fills up with
blood
|
|
hypertrophy-abnormally thickened
heart muscle
|
ascites- fluid buildup within the
abdomen
|
|
cardiomegaly- an enlarged
heart
|
pleural effusion- fluid buildup
within the thoracic cavity
|
|
pulmonary edema- fluid buildup
within the lungs
|
polycythemia- excess number of red
blood cells
|
|
myocardium- the heart
muscle
|
microcardia- a small
heart
|
We will repeat this terminology
throughout this page to help you eventually get your Latin down pat.
Just as it starts making sense we will add more later!
Follow the links
to continue on with our heart page:
Return to top
of page
|
