Left ventricle
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| Left ventricle | |
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| The heart, with cutaways, as viewed from the left side. | |
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| Left ventricle at lower left, cutaway shows some internal cavity detail. | |
| Latin | ventriculus sinister cordis |
| Gray's | subject #138 534 |
| Artery | anterior interventricular branch of left coronary artery |
| Vein | posterior vein of the left ventricle |
| Precursor | primitive ventricle, bulbus cordis |
| MeSH | Left+Ventricle |
| Dorlands/Elsevier | v_06/12853441 |
| Cardiology Network |
 Discuss Left ventricle further in the WikiDoc Cardiology Network |
| Adult Congenital |
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| Cardiac Rehabilitation |
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| Pulmonary Embolism |
| Stable Angina |
| Valvular Heart Disease |
| Vascular Medicine |
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Overview
The left ventricle is one of four chambers (two atria and two ventricles) in the human heart. It receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium via the mitral valve, and pumps it into the aorta via the aortic valve.
Shape
The left ventricle is longer and more conical in shape than the right, and on transverse section its concavity presents an oval or nearly circular outline. It forms a small part of the sternocostal surface and a considerable part of the diaphragmatic surface of the heart; it also forms the apex of the heart.
Development
By teenage and adult ages, its walls have thickened to three to six times greater than that of the right ventricle. This reflects the typical five times greater pressure workload this chamber performs while accepting blood returning from the lungs veins at ~8mmHg pressure and pushing it forward to the typical ~120mmHg pressure in the aorta during each heartbeat. (The pressures stated are resting values and stated as relative to surrounding atmospheric which is the typical "0" reference pressure used in medicine.)
Function
For excellence of health, the left ventricular muscle must:
- (a) relax very rapidly after each contraction so as to fill rapidly with oxygenated blood flowing from the lung veins, i.e. diastolic relaxation and filling.
- (b) contract rapidly and forcibly to force the majority of this blood into the aorta, overcoming the much higher aortic pressure and the extra pressure required to stretch the aorta and other major arteries enough to expand and make room for the sudden increase in blood volume, i.e. systolic contraction and ejection.
- (c) be able to rapidly increase or decrease its pumping capacity under nervous system control.
Pumping volume
Typical healthy adult heart pumping volume is ~5 liters/min, resting. Maximum capacity pumping volume extends from ~25 liters/min for non-athletes to as high as ~45 liters/min for Olympic level athletes.
Additional images
 Front view of heart and lungs. |
 Base and diaphragmatic surface of heart. |
External links
it:Ventricolo sinistroAcknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
