CARDIAC CYCLE

The heart is a complex functioning organ that is very essential to one’s living body. It supplies oxygen and

metabolic substrates in the blood to the peripheral tissues and enables the blood to pump which in turn makes a

heartbeat. The period from the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next one is called the cardiac

cycle.

The cardiac cycle is a repeating pattern of contraction and relaxation of the heart. It is inversely

proportional to the heart rate, or pulse, which is the number of times a heart beats per minute. As the heart beats,

it circulates the blood through the pulmonary and systemic circuits of the body that undergoes two sequential

phases: systole (the period of cardiac contraction) and diastole (the period of cardiac relaxation).

These two phases are characterized by either a strong pressure change with a constant volume or a

volume change with a relatively small change in pressure. Each phase of the cycle are also applied to both atria and

ventricles, traveling from the atrial diastole heading towards the ventricular diastole and to the atrial systole until

it reaches the ventricular systole.

The rhythmic contraction of the heart, generally understood to be ventricular, with the ejection of blood

that is driven from the right ventricle into the pulmonary artery to transverse the systemic and pulmonary

circulations is called a systole.

A systole may be classified as either aborted, atrial, extra or ventricular systole. An aborted systole is

weak, usually premature, and is not associated with the pulsation of a peripheral artery. The atrial systole is

concerned with the contraction of the atria by which blood is propelled to the ventricles. An extrasystole is a

premature cardiac contraction that is independent of the normal rhythm and arises in response to an impulse
outside the sinoatrial node. And the ventricular systole deals with the contraction of the cardiac ventricles by

which the blood is forced into the aorta through the pulmonary artery.

Diastole is the part of the cardiac cycle when the heart refills blood and when the heart ventricles are

relaxed. This begins from the second heart sound and ends with the first heart sound. It is this phase of the

heartbeat that occurs when the heart muscle relaxes allowing the cavities of the heart to dilate during which the

chambers are filling with blood.

Phases of the Systole and Diastole in a Cardiac Cycle

 The first phase in the cardiac cycle is the atrial contraction (presystole) which is part of the diastole phase.

In atrial contraction, the ventricles relax and the intraventricular pressure falls. The oxygenated blood is

passively flowing from the lungs into the left atrium to the left ventricle through the mitral valve via

pulmonary vein. During the left atrium contraction, pressure and volume are transferred into the left

ventricle through the mitral valve. Once the left ventricle is filled with blood, the mitral valve closes. The

aortic valve is closed due to the pressure in the aorta which is greater than the pressure in the left

ventricle. The atrial contraction causes a rise in the atrial pressure which produces an a wave in the

venous pulse.

 When the left ventricles contract, the intraventricular pressure increases which leads to the closure of the

mitral valves that produces the first heart sound (S1). The ventricular contraction is due to the

depolarization and the rapid increase of the ventricles. This allows the aortic valve to force open allowing

the blood to pump into the aorta. From there, oxygenated blood is pumped in the body. The oxygen

depleted blood is returned to the heart via the large venae cavae. This phase is done by isovolumetric

contraction.
  During the opening of the aortic valve, the third phase of the cardiac cycle has started. The rapid

ventricular ejection occurs when the ventricles keep on contracting and there is a progressive increase in

the intraventricular pressure. When the aortic valve opens, blood is rapidly ejected into the aorta. This

phase is then followed by the slow ventricular ejection where the aortic valve remains open leading to

slow ejection of blood into the aorta.

 As the aorta slowly ejects the blood, the right ventricles starts to relax and the ventricular pressure

decreases rapidly. As soon as the ventricular pressure becomes less than the pressure in the aorta, the

aortic valve closes. The ventricle is relaxing with the closed valves and it is known as isovolumetric

relaxation. During this phase the atrium is still behaving as reservoir of the blood.

 As soon as the ventricular pressure falls below the atrial pressure, the atrioventricular valves open called

the rapid ventricular filling. Blood flows rapidly from the right atrium to the right ventricle allowing the

semilunar valves to close. The ventricles are rapidly filled with the blood cumulated in the atria before the

opening of the tricuspid valve. This phase accounts for most of the ventricular filling. While in the slow

ventricular filling, the middle part of the diastole, a small volume of blood flows into the ventricles. This is

the blood flowing from the veins and passing the atria to fill the ventricles.

The cardiac cycle where the sequence of events occur in a single heartbeat (last normally about 0.8

seconds) involves two phases. The systole (contraction) that lasted 0.3 seconds and diastole (relaxation) that lasted

0.5 seconds which maintains the blood pressure within the entire body and the proper oxygenation of blood to the

peripheral tissues. It also maintains the state of equilibrium of the body (homeostasis). Through the use of the

cardiac cycle, a human being is able to circulate blood to all parts of the body.