IN THIS ISSUE

From the Fall 2005 Issue

Learning Center

Blood Vessels: A Visual Tour

Your heart can't do its job without your blood vessels. That's why you so often hear the term "cardiovascular." The work of your heart (cardio) and blood vessels (vascular) is so closely related that it is often talked about as one unit. In this issue of LifeBeat Online, we'll take you on a visual tour of your blood vessels, which are the "vascular" part of the cardiovascular system.

What Do Blood Vessels Do?

Blood vessels are a complex system of tubes that carry blood to every part of your body. Blood contains oxygen and nutrients that your heart, brain, kidneys, and other organs need to work properly.

At each tissue or organ in your body, blood makes an exchange — it "drops off" oxygen and nutrients and "picks up" carbon dioxide. After the exchange, blood returns to your heart.

A similar exchange takes place in your lungs. When blood flows through your lungs, it "drops off" carbon dioxide from your body and "picks up" oxygen. You fill your lungs with oxygen by breathing in. You get rid of the carbon dioxide in your lungs by breathing out.

Now you know how blood vessels help supply your entire body with oxygen and nutrients. Take a look at some important blood vessels, what happens when a blood vessel becomes blocked, and how a blocked blood vessel can be repaired using a healthy blood vessel.

Blood Vessel Basics
Click to enlarge	Circulatory System Your blood vessels, heart, and lungs make up the circulatory system. Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood from your heart to the tissues and organs in your body, like your brain, kidneys, and liver. Veins carry the oxygen-poor blood back to your heart.
Click to enlarge	The Largest Blood Vessels The aorta, your largest artery, carries blood away from your heart. The superior vena cava (a vein) carries blood from the upper part of your body back to the heart. The inferior vena cava (also a vein) carries blood from the lower part of your body back to your heart.
Click to enlarge	Peripheral Arteries The aorta leads to the arteries beyond your heart — the peripheral arteries. These arteries carry oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to all of your tissues and organs, except your heart.
Click to enlarge	Coronary Arteries The heart itself contains its own system of arteries — the coronary arteries — that deliver oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the heart muscle.
When Blood Vessels Become Blocked
Click to enlarge	Blockage in the Peripheral Arteries Peripheral arteries can develop a condition called atherosclerosis, which results from plaque buildup. When plaque blocks the blood flow in one or more of these arteries, it is called peripheral vascular disease (PVD). Depending on which artery is blocked, a person may experience minor symptoms, like numbness, or a major problem like a stroke if the blockage occurs in an artery in the brain.
Click to enlarge	Blockage in the Coronary Arteries Just as in the peripheral arteries, the coronary arteries on the surface of your heart can also develop atherosclerosis from too much plaque buildup. When plaque blocks the blood flow in one or more of your heart's arteries, it is called coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD can lead to a heart attack.
Repairing a Blocked Blood Vessel with a Healthy Blood Vessel
Click to enlarge	Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery When blocked blood vessels interfere with blood flow, doctors sometimes perform bypass surgery. In bypass surgery, your doctor uses a section of a healthy blood vessel from elsewhere in your body to create a new pathway — a "bypass" — around the blocked blood vessel. Bypass surgery is only one treatment for blocked arteries. Other treatments include angioplasty and/or stent procedures.

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