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Asked by anon-269926 to Catherine on 18 Nov 2020.
Question: what do you find to be the most interesting thing about the heart?
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Catherine Ross answered on 18 Nov 2020:
I love the valves inside the heart, they are so small and so delicate yet they can hold back so much blood and be so strong yet they look like butterfly wings. I think it shows that things aren’t always as they appear.
Comments
Jack commented on :
Usually there’s an elegant rhythm to how the electrical signal passes down the heart, making the heart muscle push blood through each compartment and then refill as it relaxes. If this doesn’t happen in a regular way it is fascinating to see how individual hearts can adapt to keep the body supplied with blood. The electrical signal may have to find a different route through the heart if some of the path is blocked.
It’s also interesting to see how the heart twists as it pumps blood. The muscle fibres spiral around the heart. If it is difficult for the blood to flow, one side of the heart may become very thick and strong.
Duncan commented on :
What an absolutely brilliant question Zara!
For me its a really difficult question to answer. As Catherine says the valves of the heart are amazing. They can appear so thin and fragile but hold so much power in acting as gatekeepers to each chamber.
Although I specialised in imaging of the heart I really find the electrics of the heart fascinating, this is what we call electrocardiography. The wiggly lines of the ECG can tell us so much information.
A simple ECG can really show what the heart is thinking and feeling. I know this sounds like a silly thing to say. However, over my career I found that the easiest way to understand whats going on is to think that everyone’s heart has its own personality. This might sound silly and as I say is just a thought that I have. As just one example I’ve had patients who get palpitation. They feel a flutter in their chest. This is often caused by a sudden nonspecific increase in heart rate (SVT) or a beat that jumps in out of rhythm, the later is what we call an ectopic beat. Often this is caused due to the patient doing something their heart doesn’t really like. Maybe too much caffeine, perhaps the patient is in a stressful situation, perhaps they’re a smoker. If you can link the palpitation to reoccurring specific events I always think its the heart giving the patient a nudge. Letting them know ‘I don’t like this, I don’t want anymore!