Items

• Systole

  Heart contraction phase.
• Systolic pressure

  Blood pressure during contraction.
• Vascular elasticity

  Ability of vessels to return to shape.
• Vasodilator

  Widens blood vessels.
• Ventricles

  Lower heart chambers.
• Ventricular fibrillation

  Irregular heart rhythm.
• Wasting

  Severe malnutrition-related thinness.
• Afterload

  The amount of pressure the heart needs to exert to eject blood during ventricular contraction; recorded as systolic pressure; affects stroke volume and ventricular pressures.
• Aneurysm

  Excessive localized swelling of the wall of an artery.
• Angina

  Severe chest pain due to inadequate blood supply to the heart, often radiating to shoulders, arms, and neck.
• Aorta

  Main artery supplying oxygenated blood from the heart to the body.
• Arteriosclerosis

  Thickening and hardening of artery walls, usually with aging, reducing elasticity.
• Artery

  Blood vessel that carries blood through the body.
• Asymptomatic

  Having a disease or condition but showing no symptoms.
• Atherosclerosis

  Disease caused by fatty deposits in artery walls.
• Atria

  Two upper chambers of the heart that receive blood.
• Blood clot

  Gel-like mass formed from coagulated blood.
• Blood vessel

  Tube carrying blood in the body (arteries, veins, capillaries).
• Blood vessel constriction

  Narrowing of blood vessels due to muscle contraction.
• Carbon

  Chemical element (atomic number 6) found in many forms.
• Cachexia

  Severe weight and muscle loss due to illness.
• Cardiac cycle

  Sequence of heart contraction and relaxation.
• Cardiac output

  Amount of blood pumped by the heart per minute.
• Cerebrovascular accident

  Stroke caused by loss of blood flow to brain.
• Circulation

  Movement of blood through the body.