Cardiac Pressure

Cardiac Cycle
• The cardiac cycle is defined as a sequence of alternating contraction
and relaxation of the atria and ventricles in order to pump
blood throughout the body. It starts at the beginning of one heartbeat
and ends at the beginning of another.
• Systole- where the heart chambers are contracting and pumps the
blood towards the periphery via the arteries.
• Diastole-where the heart chamber is in a state of relaxation and the
heart fills with blood that it receives from the veins
Pressure in the heart is highest during ventricular systole.
Pressure in the heart is lowest during ventricular diastole.
• To understand cardiac cycle better Wiggers diagram is used
• The Wiggers diagram highlights the relationship between pressure and
volume over time, along with the electrical activity of the heart. The
diagram uses the left chambers of the heart to demonstrate:
• Atrial pressure
• Ventricular pressure
• Aortic pressure
Diastole Systole Diastole
Left atrial pressure
• In the first phase we notice no change in pressure. Atrial filling takes place.
• The pressure does not change due to two main factors:
• The blood entering the atrium drained directly down into the ventricle
through the mitral valve without any force acting on the atrium, hence
there is no change in pressure
• Atrium is distensible-can be expanded to bigger volume without increasing
tension in the walls
• The second phase is the atrial contraction phase. Here we notice rise in
pressure. There is a force acting on the left atrium to push the blood down
into the left ventricle. Hence the pressure increases.
• The third phase is the ventricular contraction where we see a gradual
increase in pressure.
• This is because the left ventricle contracts and the mitral valve closes
so there is no pathway for blood to flow from left atrium to left
ventricle.
• Hence the left atrium fills up and the pressure gradually increases.
• We observe a drop in pressure in the final phase because the mitral
valve opens and after the ventricle has been emptied atrial filling takes
place
Left Ventricular pressure
• In the atrial filling phase of left ventricular pressure there is no change in
pressure.
• The left ventricle is distensible-can be expanded to bigger volume without
increasing tension in the walls.
• In the atrial contraction phase there is a spike in pressure hence the blood
is ejected from the left atrium to the left ventricle under pressure.
• In the ventricular contraction phase there is a huge spike in pressure in
the left ventricle because the blood is forced out.
• The pressure finally drops below the pressure in left atrium hence the
blood is able to flow from left atrium to left ventricle to fill the ventricle.
Aortic Pressure
• From the diagram we observe that the pressure gradually decreases
in the aortic filling and the aortic contraction phase until the point
where the pressure in the left ventricle exceeds the pressure in the
aorta and hence the blood flows into the aorta
• After the ventricle finish contracting the pressure in the aorta
continues to decay down.