About CWRU Physical Diagnosis: The Cardiac Exam

Basic Terminology

A complete medical dictionary can be found at Medscape.
(Medscape requires free registration to use and is an excellent medical site which includes full text articles)

aortic valve - semilunar (three flap) valve located between the left ventricle and the aorta

atria - small upper chambers of the heart which pump blood to the ventricles

diastole - the phase in the cardiac cycle when the heart is at rest (not contracting), generally referring to ventricular diastole

mitral valve - bicuspid (two flap) valve located between the left atrium and the left ventricle

pulmonic valve - semilunar (three flap) valve located between the right ventricle and the pulmonary veins

tricuspid valve - three part valve located between the right atrium and the right ventricle

systole - the phase in the cardiac cycle when the heart is contacting, generally referring to ventricular systole

ventricles - large lower chambers of the heart which pump blood to the lungs (right ventricle) and the rest of the body (left ventricle)

Please feel free to make suggestions of additional words to be added to this section through the comments page.

(18 December 2008)
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