The fibrous skeleton of the heart performs all of the functions of the human heart.
Your heart beats 100,000 times daily to supply oxygen and nutrients to your body's organs and tissues and to carry waste products to your liver, kidneys and lungs for elimination. Alteration of the normal fibrous skeleton of your heart produces cardiac arrhythmias or cardiovascular disease. The sudden unexpected death of a young athlete who had a normal electrocardiogram prior to the cardiac arrest, was due to changes in the fibrous skeleton of the heart.
Fibrous Skeleton of the Heart
Muscle tissue attached to your heart forms the fibrous skeleton of your heart. These muscles form four chambers that support the cardiac valves. A fibrous inter-ventricular septum divides the ventricles, i.e., the lower two chambers of your heart. The upper two chambers of your heart are called the left and right atria.
The chambers of your heart are lined with simple tissue called endocardium. The lining of the outside of your heart is called the epicardium. Between the epicardium and the endocardium is the myocardium, which forms ridges and appears striated. The myocardium is thicker in your ventricles than in your atria.
Heart Valves
Four valves control the flow of blood within the heart. These are known as the tricuspid, mitral, pulmonary and aortic valves. All of the heart valves have three flaps, except the mitral valve, which has two. The tricuspid valve is located between the right atrium and the right ventricle. The mitral valve is found between the left ventricle and the left atrium. Dense fiber rings, known as atrioventricular rings, surround the tricuspid and mitral valves.
The pulmonary valve is located within the pulmonary artery and separates it from the right ventricle. The aortic valve is inside the opening of the aorta and separates it from the left ventricle. The pulmonary and aortic valves to the major vessels are located inside short fibrous cylinders.
Sinus Rhythm - Arrithymias
The sinus node is a group of specialized cells in the right atrium. During a normal heartbeat, the sinus node discharges an electrical pulse, which causes the right and left atria to contract. As the atria contract, the ventricles fill with blood. When the pulse reaches the atrioventricular node, the ventricles begin to contract.
An arrithymia is any interruption of pulses in the fibrous skeleton of the heart. Inadequate blood to the heart can alter the fibrous skeleton of the heart, producing arrithymias. Damage to heart tissue and coronary artery disease causes arrithymias. Smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, excessive abuse of alcohol and drugs or excessive caffeine may also damage the skeleton of the heart.
Cardiovascular Disease
According to the Journal of the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is highly prevalent in people over 76 years old. In the heart association study of 3,929 participants over age 76, 1,640 (42 percent) showed mitral valve calcification, 1,710 (44 percent) showed aortic valve calcification and 2,114 (54 percent) showed aortic valve sclerosis. All three forms of cardiovascular disease were present in 17 percent of the population over 76 years old.
A second study of 157 male cardiovascular disease patients aged 50 years old or older, reported that 42 percent had aortic valve sclerosis, 30 percent had mitral valve calcification, 48 percent had aortic root sclerosis and 71 percent showed aortic atherosclerosis, which is cholesterol and fat lining the endocardium.
Tags: fibrous skeleton, aortic valve, mitral valve, percent showed, your heart, calcification percent
