In: Anatomy and Physiology
1. What would happen if there was a hole between the right side of the heart and the left side? What would this be called?
2. What causes blood to flow from one chamber or vessel to another?
3. What happens to the pressure inside a chamber when the myocardium contracts?
Ans-1. If there is a hole between the right side and left side of heart i.e. between right atrium and left atrium it will lead to flow of oxygenated blood from the left atrium to the right atrium. Similarly if the hole is between right and left ventricles it will lead to flow of blood from left ventricle to right ventricle. Here the blood will mix with deoxygenated blood. It will cause right atrium to enlarge it right ventricle to enlarge in second case and also the amount of blood reaching the lungs will also increase.
The term for this defect is called atrial septal defect (ASD) if hole is between the two atrium and ventricular septal defect (VSD) if hole is between two ventricles.
Ans-2. The flow of blood between the two chambers or between the vessels is due to the pressure difference as the blood flow is from high pressure to low pressure. Various factors affect this blood flow and blood pressure like cardiac output, compliance, volume and viscosity of the blood, blood vessel length and diameter, etc.
Ans-3. When the myocardium contracts, the pressure inside that chamber increases. Due to the contraction of myocardium or walls of the heart, the volume per area is decreased which eventually increases the pressure on that area by blood.