The work of the heart can never be interrupted. The heart’s job is to keep Oxygen-rich
blood flowing through the body. All the body’s cells need a constant supply of oxygen,
especially those in the brain. The brain cells live only four to five minutes after their oxygen
is cut off, and death comes to the entire body.
2. The heart is a specialized muscle that serves as a pump. This pump is divided into four
chambers connected by tiny doors called valves. The chambers work to keep the blood
flowing round the body in a circle.
3. At the end of each circuit, veins carry the blood to the right atrium, the first of the four
chambers 2/5 oxygen by then is used up and it is on its way back to the lung to pick up a
fresh supply and to give up the carbon dioxide it has accumulated. From the right atrium the
blood flows through the tricuspid valve into the second chamber, the right ventricle. The
right ventricle contracts when it is filled, pushing the blood through the pulmonary artery,
which leads to the lungs – in the lungs the blood gives up its carbon dioxide and picks up
fresh oxygen. Then it travels to the third chamber the left atrium. When this chamber is
filled it forces the blood through the valve to the left ventricle. From here it is pushed into a
big blood vessel called aorta and sent round the body by way of arteries.
4. Heart diseases can result from damage to the heart muscle, the valves or the pacemaker. If
the muscle is damaged, the heart is unable to pump properly if the valves are damaged,
blood cannot flow normally and easily from one chamber to another, and if the pacemaker is
defective, the contractions of the chamber will become un-coordinated.
5. Until the twentieth century, few doctors dared to touch the heart. In 1953 all this changed
after twenty years of work, Dr. John Gibbon in the USA had developed a machine that
could take over temporarily from the heart and lungs. Blood could be routed through the
machine bypassing the heart so that surgeons could work inside it and see what they were
doing. The era of open heart surgery had begun.
6. In the operating theatre, it gives surgeons the chance to repair or replace a defective heart.
Many parties have had plastic valves inserted in their hearts when their own was faulty.
Many people are being kept alive with tiny battery operated pacemakers; none of these
repairs could have been made without the heart – lung machine. But valuable as it is to the surgeons, the heart lung machine has certain limitations. It can be used only for a few hours
at a time because its pumping gradually damages the bloods cells.
a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it, using headings and
subheadings. Also use recognizable abbreviations wherever necessary (Minimum 4).
Use a format you consider suitable. Supply an appropriate title.
Answers
Answer:
given in explanation
Explanation:
The work of the heart can never be interrupted. The heart’s job is to keep Oxygen-rich
blood flowing through the body. All the body’s cells need a constant supply of oxygen,
especially those in the brain. The brain cells live only four to five minutes after their oxygen
is cut off, and death comes to the entire body.
2. The heart is a specialized muscle that serves as a pump. This pump is divided into four
chambers connected by tiny doors called valves. The chambers work to keep the blood
flowing round the body in a circle.
3. At the end of each circuit, veins carry the blood to the right atrium, the first of the four
chambers 2/5 oxygen by then is used up and it is on its way back to the lung to pick up a
fresh supply and to give up the carbon dioxide it has accumulated. From the right atrium the
blood flows through the tricuspid valve into the second chamber, the right ventricle. The
right ventricle contracts when it is filled, pushing the blood through the pulmonary artery,
which leads to the lungs – in the lungs the blood gives up its carbon dioxide and picks up
fresh oxygen. Then it travels to the third chamber the left atrium. When this chamber is
filled it forces the blood through the valve to the left ventricle. From here it is pushed into a
big blood vessel called aorta and sent round the body by way of arteries.
4. Heart diseases can result from damage to the heart muscle, the valves or the pacemaker. If
the muscle is damaged, the heart is unable to pump properly if the valves are damaged,
blood cannot flow normally and easily from one chamber to another, and if the pacemaker is
defective, the contractions of the chamber will become un-coordinated.
5. Until the twentieth century, few doctors dared to touch the heart. In 1953 all this changed
after twenty years of work, Dr. John Gibbon in the USA had developed a machine that
could take over temporarily from the heart and lungs. Blood could be routed through the
machine bypassing the heart so that surgeons could work inside it and see what they were
doing. The era of open heart surgery had begun.
6. In the operating theatre, it gives surgeons the chance to repair or replace a defective heart.
Many parties have had plastic valves inserted in their hearts when their own was faulty.
Many people are being kept alive with tiny battery operated pacemakers; none of these
repairs could have been made without the heart – lung machine. But valuable as it is to the surgeons, the heart lung machine has certain limitations. It can be used only for a few hours
at a time because its pumping gradually damages the bloods cells.
a) On the basis of your reading of the above passage make notes on it, using headings and
subheadings. Also use recognizable abbreviations wherever necessary (Minimum 4).
Use a format you consider suitable. Supply an appropriate title.
Importance of a healthy Heart