About Your Heart

Your heart is really a muscle. It's located a little to the left of the middle of your chest, and it's about the size of your fist. There are lots of muscles all over your body — but the heart muscle is special because of what it does. The heart sends blood around your body. The blood provides your body with the oxygen and nutrients it needs. It also carries away waste.

In an average lifetime, the heart beats more than two and a half billion times, without ever pausing to rest. Like a pumping machine, the heart provides the power needed for life.

Heart Valve Function

The heart has four heart valves:

Mitral Valve. This valve is located between the left atrium and the left ventricle and is the most common valve to require repair.
Tricuspid Valve. This valve is located between the upper-right chamber (right atrium) and the lower-right chamber (right ventricle) of the heart.
Pulmonic Valve. Also known as the pulmonary valve, this valve is located between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery, which is the main artery carrying oxygen-poor blood from the heart to the lungs for more oxygen.
Aortic Valve. This valve is located between the left ventricle and the aorta, which is the main artery carrying oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the rest of the body.

Each of these heart valves has its own set of gates or flaps. In a normally functioning heart, these flaps swing open to let blood flow from one area to the next, then neatly close again until the next cycle begins. Any restriction or narrowing of the valve opening limits blood flow. Any leaking of the blood back in the wrong direction could lead to more serious problems if left untreated.

Coronary Arteries Function

The coronary arteries deliver blood to the heart muscle, providing a continuous supply of oxygen and nutrients needed for it to stay healthy and function normally. The coronary arteries regulate the supply of blood to your heart muscles depending on how much oxygen your heart needs at the time, as indicated by your heart rate, your blood pressure, the force of your heart’s contractions and the thickness of your heart muscle. The harder the heart has to work to pump blood, the more oxygen it needs. If your coronary arteries are not able to dilate properly, your heart muscle may not be able to get the amount of oxygen it needs to function properly.

Heart Disease

Heart disease is any disorder that affects the heart's ability to function normally. Various forms of heart disease include:

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy
Aortic regurgitation
Aortic stenosis
Arrhythmias
Cardiogenic shock
Congenital heart disease
Coronary artery disease (CAD) Dilated cardiomyopathy
Endocarditis
Heart attack (myocardial infarction)
Heart failure
Heart tumor
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
Idiopathic cardiomyopathy

The most common cause of heart disease is a narrowing of or blockage in the coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart muscle itself (coronary artery disease). Some heart diseases are present at birth (congenital heart disease). Other causes include: