When it comes to the science of heart health, we couldall use some expert information and advice. That's why we've enlisted St.Vincent's Health System the top local sponsor of the Go Red For Womencampaign here in Birmingham to help contribute to The Heart Beat blog. Theirdoctors, nurses and health staff will be providing regular information on avariety of heart health topics. We call it "Expert Corner." Enjoy!
Today's Expert Corner was provided by Dr. Jose Osorio,a cardiac electrophysiologist at the
Today, we're going to take a closerlook at what constitutes a normal heart rhythm.
An illustration of how heart rhythm works. St. Vincent's Health SystemTheheart is a muscle that contracts to pump blood to the body. The heart has twoupper chambers the atria and two lower chambers the ventricles.
Atriaand ventricles are separated by heart valves that are meant to allow blood toonly flow forward. The ventricle is the more muscular part of your heart and isresponsible for over 80 percent of the blood flow. The atria are thinner, butalso very important to help with blood flow.
Theatria and ventricles contract in an organized, efficient sequence. Thatsequence is controlled by the electrical system of the heart: the sinus node,AV node and His-Purkinje system.
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