When do pulmonary and aortic valves open

The heart has four heart valves — the aortic, mitral, pulmonary and tricuspid valves. All four valves open and close to help move blood from one area to another.

Two of the valves, the mitral and the tricuspid valves, move blood from the upper chambers of the heart the atria to the lower chambers of the heart the ventricles. The other two valves, the aortic and pulmonary valves, move blood to the lungs and the rest of the body through the ventricles.

When the heart valves open and close, they create sounds we know as our heartbeat. Here is an overview of circulation through the heart: First, blood returns from the body to the right atrium.

This blood has been depleted of oxygen when the oxygen was delivered to the body tissues, so it is seeking more oxygen to keep the process going. The right atrium, now full of oxygen-depleted blood, pumps the blood through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. Then the right ventricle contracts to pump blood through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery brings blood away from the heart to the lungs where the blood receives the oxygen we breathe, becoming oxygen-rich blood.

At the same time the above process is occurring, oxygen-rich blood is returning from the lungs by way of the left atrium. Related valve problems include: aortic regurgitation also called aortic insufficiency , aortic stenosis.

Written by American Heart Association editorial staff and reviewed by science and medicine advisers. See our editorial policies and staff. Heart Valve Disease. About Heart Valves. Heart Valve Problems and Causes.

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