Aorta

The aorta   is the largest artery in the body, originating from the left ventricle of the heart and extending down to the abdomen, where it bifurcates into two smaller arteries (the common iliacs). The aorta distributes oxygenated blood to all parts of the body through the systemic circulation. 

Artery: Aorta

The course of the aorta

The aorta is usually divided into five segments/sections

• Ascending aorta—the section between the heart and the arch of aorta
• Arch of aorta—the peak part that looks somewhat like an inverted "U"
• Descending aorta—the section from the arch of aorta to the point where it divides into the common iliac arteries
• Thoracic aorta—the half of the descending aorta above the diaphragm
• Abdominal aorta—the half of the descending aorta below the diaphragm

In other animals

All amniotes have a broadly similar arrangement to that of humans, albeit with a number of individual variations. In fish, however, there are two separate vessels referred to as aortas. The ventral aorta carries de-oxygenated blood from the heart to the gills; part of this vessel forms the ascending aorta in tetrapods (the remainder forms the pulmonary artery). A second, dorsal aorta carries oxygenated blood from the gills to the rest of the body, and is homologous with the descending aorta of tetrapods. The two aortas are connected by a number of vessels, one passing through each of the gills. Amphibians also retain the fifth connecting vessel, so that the aorta has two parallel arches  

What Is Heart Disease?

What Is Heart Disease?

The heart is the center of the cardiovascular system. Through the body's blood vessels, the heart pumps blood to all of the body's cells. The blood carries oxygen, which the cells need. Cardiovascular disease is a group of problems that occur when the heart and blood vessels aren't working the way they should.

Here are some of the problems that go along with cardiovascular disease:

• Arteriosclerosis (say: ar-teer-ee-oh-skluh-row-sus): also called hardening of the arteries, arteriosclerosis means the arteries become thickened and are no longer as flexible.
• Atherosclerosis (say: ah-thuh-row-skluh-row-sus): a buildup of cholesterol and fat that makes the arteries narrower so less blood can flow through. Those buildups are called plaque.
• Angina (say: an-jy-nuh): people with angina feel a pain in the chest that means the heart isn't getting enough blood.
• Heart attack: when a blood clot or other blockage cuts blood flow to a part of the heart.
• Stroke: when part of the brain doesn't get enough blood due to a clot or a burst blood vessel.

How Do You Get Heart Disease?

Heart disease isn't contagious — you can't catch it like you can the flu or a cold. Instead, certain things increase a person's chances of getting cardiovascular disease. Doctors call these things risk factors.

Some of these risk factors a person can't do anything about, like being older and having other people in the family who have had the same problems. But people do have control over some risk factors — smoking, having high blood pressure, being overweight, and not exercising can increase the risk of getting cardiovascular disease.

What Are the Signs of Heart Disease?

Many people do not realize they have cardiovascular disease until they have chest pain, a heart attack, or stroke. These kinds of problems often need immediate attention and the person may need to go to the emergency department of a hospital.

If it's not an emergency and a doctor suspects the person could have cardiovascular disease, the doctor can do some tests to find out more about how the heart and blood vessels are working. These tests include:

• Electrocardiogram (say: eh-lek-tro-kar-dee-uh-gram). This test records the heart's electrical activity. A doctor puts the patient on a monitor and watches the machine to see the heart beat and determine if it's normal.
• Echocardiogram (say: eh-ko-kar-dee-uh-gram). This test uses sound waves to diagnose heart problems. These waves are bounced off the parts of the heart, creating a picture of the heart that is displayed on a monitor.
• Stress test. For this test, the person exercises while the doctor checks the electrocardiogram machine to see how the heart muscle reacts.
• Catheterization (say: kah-thuh-tuh-ruh-zay-shun). In this test a long, thin tube is inserted into the patient's body to inject a special dye, which can show narrowed areas in arteries due to plaque buildup and find other problems.
• Carotid (say: kuh-rah-tid) artery scan. This test uses sound waves to check for blockages in the carotid artery, a large blood vessel in the neck that supplies blood to the brain.

What is a Heart Murmur?

A heart murmur is a swishing or a whistling sound that the doctor hears when he listens to your child's heart with a stethoscope. The heart beat normally makes two sounds: the first is Lub and the second is Dub, these two sounds follow each other (Lub Dub) and are not separated by any extra sounds. A heart murmur will be heard as a swishing or a whistling sound in addition to the normal Lub-Dub sound. The moving blood sounds like the running water in your garden hose. A heart murmur may indicate that there is a heart problem or may be due to normal blood flow. A heart murmur is not a diagnosis or disease, it is a sign to alert our attention to check if there is anything wrong.

Most of the time heart murmurs are normal and do not indicate that there is anything wrong with the heart. However, sometimes they may result from a hole in the heart or a narrowed valve. A hole in the hose allows water to squirt out producing a whistling sound. Heart murmurs come in different sounds which may help indicate whether the murmur is normal or abnormal. Click the sound icon to listen to the different heart murmur sounds on this page.  Musical  Harsh  Machine-Like

Listen to the difference between a small hole in the heart and a large hole.  Small Hole

The fact that a heart murmur sounds softer may indicate that the hole is larger.  Large Hole

nnocent Causes:
Fever During fever the blood flows faster to meet the body's higher energy needs, this is similar to a fast flowing stream. This murmur could be heard in any child with fever and disappears when the fever is over. Anemia When the concentration of red blood cells is low, as may happen with poor nutrition, the blood will flow faster, making a murmur. This murmur resolves after treating the anemia.	A thin chest wall and a straight back Simply because the heart is closer to the chest wall, the blood flow sound will be easily heard without indicating there is anything wrong with the heart.
Venous Hum Venous hum is a common innocent murmur heard during childhood. This murmur is heard as a soft humming sound at the base of the neck just above the collarbone. It results from the normal blood flow in the large neck veins (jugular veins). The doctor may lightly compress the neck vein to make the murmur transiently disappear, or he may turn your child's head to one side or another, so as to make the murmur sound louder. These simple maneuvers help the doctor to differentiate a Venous Hum from the murmurs resulting from heart disease.	Venous Hum
Still's Murmur This heart murmur is named after the doctor who described it. It is heard most frequently in active, healthy 3 to 7-year old children. The murmur represents the normal sound of blood gushing out into the aorta during heart contraction. It has a musical tone to it and thus is frequently described as "musical murmur"; it usually sounds softer during sitting and may sound very loud during fever, anxiety, or exercise.
Not-Innocent Causes:
A narrow valveIf you press on your garden hose, the sound of the flowing water becomes louder, as the caliber of the garden hose becomes narrower. As the blood encounters a narrowed valve it becomes turbulent, and faster to squeeze itself through, thus producing a heart murmur. A narrow valve is called valve stenosis. The importance of the situation depends on what valve is involved and the degree of the narrowing.	A narrow arteryIf the arteries going to the lungs from the heart (Pulmonary Arteries) are narrow they may produce a heart murmur. This is a defect called Branch Pulmonary Artery Stenosis. To learn more about Branch Pulmonary Artery Stenosis,
A leaking valve As the heart valve closes some blood leaks back making a blowing sound (murmur). A leaking valve is called insufficient or regurgitating. Its importance depends on how much blood is leaking, what valve is involved, and how long it has been going on.	Regurgitation
A hole in the heart Because the pressure in the heart chambers is not the same, the blood will flow from the high to the low-pressure chamber, producing a murmur sounding like a waterfall. If the hole is small, it will make a very loud sound. If the hole is large it may make a faint murmur that may go unnoticed for some time; therefore a faint murmur may sometimes indicate a serious problem. A hole in the heart is called septal defect. If it is between the upper cardiac chambers, it is called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), and is called Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) if it is between the lower cardiac chambers. The importance of septal defects depends on their size and site.	Small Hole Large Hole

   

Heart murmur

Murmurs are pathologic heart sounds that are produced as a result of turbulent blood flow that is sufficient to produce audible noise. Most murmurs can only be heard with the assistance of a stethoscope ("onauscultation").

A functional murmur or "physiologicmurmur" is a heart murmur that is primarily due to physiologic conditions outside the heart, as opposed to structural defects in the heart itself. Functional murmurs are benign (an "innocent murmur").

Murmurs may also be the result of various problems, such as narrowing or leaking of valves, or the presence of abnormal passages through which blood flows in or near the heart. Such murmurs, known as pathologic murmurs, should be evaluated by an expert.

Heart murmurs are most frequently categorized by timing, into systolic heart murmurs and diastolic heart murmurs. However, continuous murmurs cannot be directly placed into either category