11. Artificial Heart Valves: From Caged Ball to Bioprosthesis

The heart is a dual pump. The right side receives blood from the body into the right atrium. From this chamber it passes to the right ventricle, a muscular pump capable of driving the de-oxygenated blood through the lungs via the pulmonary artery. Freshly-oxygenated blood returns to the left side of the pump via the pulmonary vein. From the left atrium blood passes into the left ventricle, an organ powerful enough to pump blood through all the organs of the body. The heart therefore pumps by ..