Cardiovascular System & Blood
The narration between entries paraphrases; it never reads an entry aloud before the entry plays. Every entry in this lecture plays exactly as it does on its own page — same file, same speed, nothing laid over it.
What you can do after this
- Name the combining forms for the heart, its chambers and its vessels, and say which of them double a Greek root with a Latin one
- Decode a blood term from its substance root, its colour root, and the four suffixes this system adds
- Describe one heartbeat and the two circuits it drives, using the chamber and phase terms
- Separate a clot that stays from one that travels, and reduced supply from the tissue death that follows
- Read a blood pressure term as an instrument, two phases, and a direction
What it covers
48 entries in 8 topics. Each number links to that entry on its own.
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1. The roots for the pump and the pipes
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2. Inside the heart, and the pulse it makes
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3. What blocks a vessel
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4. Blood: the substance, the cells, the liquid
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5. Four suffixes this system adds
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6. The chambers, the beat, and the two circuits
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7. What goes wrong, and what it is called
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8. The unit put to work
Check yourself
What are the main combining forms of this system, and which of them double a Greek root with a Latin one?
Cardi slash o names the heart, angi slash o names a vessel, arteri slash o names an artery carrying blood away from the heart, and ven slash o names a vein carrying blood toward it. Three structures carry two roots each: a vessel is angi slash o from Greek and vas slash o or vascul slash o from Latin, a vein is phleb slash o from Greek and ven slash o from Latin, and blood is hem slash o and hemat slash o from Greek and sangui slash o from Latin. In none of the three cases does the doubling name a second structure, which is Unit One's rule about two roots for one organ applied three times inside one unit. Which root a given term takes is fixed by convention rather than by rule, so neither member of a pair is the more correct form.
How is a blood term built, and which suffixes does this system supply?
The root is either a substance root — hem slash o or hemat slash o for blood itself — or a colour root standing for a cell, erythr slash o for red cells and leuk slash o for white ones. Four suffixes are numbered inside this unit rather than in the universal block: globin names a protein, and in blood terms the oxygen-carrying protein of red cells; poiesis names ongoing formation, as against genesis, which names origin; stasis names stopping or controlling, and can also name stagnation; crit names separation, and in blood terms a measured proportion. So hemoglobin is the protein rather than the cell, hematopoiesis is the production of blood cells, hemostasis is the stopping of bleeding, and the hematocrit is a proportion of volume rather than a count of cells.
Describe one heartbeat and the two circuits it drives.
The heart has four chambers: a right and left atrium above, and a right and left ventricle below, with blood entering an atrium and being pumped out by the ventricle beneath it. Systole is the phase in which the ventricles contract and eject blood, and it gives the higher of the two numbers in a pressure reading; diastole is the phase in which they relax and fill, and it gives the lower. The pulmonary circuit carries blood from the heart to the lungs and back, and the systemic circuit carries it from the heart to the rest of the body and back, beginning at the aorta. Every beat drives both circuits at once rather than one after the other. Right and left are always the patient's, so on an image the right side appears on the left.
How do the four clot-related terms differ from one another?
A thrombus is a clot that forms and stays where it formed; an embolus is a mass that travels through the bloodstream until it lodges elsewhere, so the distinction between those two is where the mass is rather than what it is made of. Ischemia is a deficiency of blood supply to a tissue, whatever the reason for it, and an infarction is the death of tissue resulting from a loss of blood supply — which makes ischemia and infarction stages rather than synonyms. The two pairs work at different levels: thrombus and embolus name an object, while ischemia and infarction name what happens downstream of one. All four often appear in sequence in a single record, and each names a different thing.
How is a blood pressure term read?
It separates into three things: the instrument, the two phases, and the direction of any abnormality. Sphygmomanometer carries the root sphygm, pulse, and names the instrument that measures pressure. Systolic names the phase in which the ventricles contract, giving the higher number, and diastolic the phase in which they relax, giving the lower. Hypertension is pressure persistently above the normal range and hypotension persistently below it, built on the universal prefixes hyper and hypo, which differ by two letters and reverse the finding. A reading always carries both numbers, and one number alone does not name a pressure.
Lecture transcript
The narration as recorded, in order. Where an entry plays, the transcript links to it rather than reprinting it — the entry plays from its own file, unaltered, and says the same thing on its own page.
This is Unit Seven of Medical Terminology: the cardiovascular system, and blood. Every system unit runs in one order: combining forms, then the system's own suffixes, then anatomy, then pathology. Units One through Four numbered the suffixes, prefixes and joining rules, and this unit cites them by number. Three structures here carry two roots each, one Greek and one Latin: vessel, vein, and blood. The doubling names no second structure. Blood adds four suffixes of its own, and the pathology run is dense with pairs that reverse a finding. By the end you can do five things. One: name the roots for the heart and its vessels. Two: decode a blood term from its root and four suffixes. Three: describe one beat and both circuits. Four: separate a clot that stays from one that travels. Five: read a blood pressure term part by part.
Nine roots, and two of them pair a Greek form with a Latin one for a single structure. Unit One numbered that pattern as a rule.
The root for the heart.
MedTerm 0401 cardi/o: Heart
Cardi slash o names the heart. Carditis takes the universal suffix itis, numbered in Unit Two. Cardi slash o also names the opening between stomach and esophagus, so the rest of the term decides.
The root for a vessel.
MedTerm 0402 angi/o: Vessel
Angi slash o names a vessel. Angiography takes the universal suffix graphy from Unit Two. Angi slash o names any vessel, including lymphatic ones, so the term decides which.
The Latin forms for vessel.
MedTerm 0403 vas/o and vascul/o: Vessel
Vas slash o and vascul slash o also name a vessel, from Latin. Angi slash o is the Greek for the same structure. Unit One's rule holds: there is no second vessel.
Away from the heart.
MedTerm 0404 arteri/o: Artery
Arteri slash o names an artery, a vessel carrying blood away from the heart. Arteriosclerosis takes the universal suffix sclerosis. An artery is defined by direction, not by whether its blood is oxygenated.
The smaller version.
MedTerm 0405 arteriol/o: Arteriole
Arteriol slash o names an arteriole, a small branch of an artery. The added syllable ol marks a smaller version, and the same device turns a vein into a venule.
Toward the heart.
MedTerm 0406 ven/o: Vein
Ven slash o names a vein, a vessel carrying blood toward the heart. Intravenous uses the universal prefix intra from Unit Three. Veins carry blood toward the heart, the opposite direction from arteries.
The Greek form for vein.
MedTerm 0407 phleb/o: Vein
Phleb slash o is the Greek form for a vein, and ven slash o the Latin. Terms take one or the other by convention rather than by rule, so neither is more correct.
The smallest veins.
MedTerm 0408 venul/o: Venule
Venul slash o names a venule, a small vein receiving blood from the capillaries. Arterioles feed the capillaries; venules drain them.
One named vessel.
MedTerm 0409 aort/o: Aorta
Aort slash o names the aorta, the largest artery leaving the heart. The aorta is one named vessel rather than a class of them, which separates it from every other root here.
Six entries inside the heart: the chambers, the valves that hold flow one way, the wall between the sides, and the vessels feeding the muscle. Then the pulse.
The upper chambers.
MedTerm 0410 atri/o: Atrium
Atri slash o names an atrium, one of the two upper chambers of the heart. One atrium, two atria, following the u m to a plural rule numbered in Unit One.
The lower chambers.
MedTerm 0411 ventricul/o: Ventricle
Ventricul slash o names a ventricle, one of the two lower chambers of the heart. Ventricul slash o also names fluid-filled spaces in the brain, so the rest of the term settles which.
Direction, not rate.
MedTerm 0412 valvul/o: Valve
Valvul slash o names a valve, a structure preventing backward flow of blood. Valvuloplasty takes the universal suffix plasty from Unit Two. Valves control the direction of flow, not its rate.
A dividing wall.
MedTerm 0413 sept/o: Septum
Sept slash o names a septum, a wall dividing two chambers or cavities; in the heart, the two sides. It names a dividing wall anywhere in the body, including in the nose.
The crown of vessels.
MedTerm 0414 coron/o: Heart or Crown
Coron slash o names the heart, from the crown-like ring of vessels supplying it. Coronary names the vessels feeding the heart, not the heart's chambers, a narrower meaning than the root's origin suggests.
The root for pulse.
MedTerm 0415 sphygm/o: Pulse
Sphygm slash o names the pulse. The initial s and p are both sounded here, unlike terms opening with p n or p s, where Unit One's rule makes the first letter silent.
Three entries. The first two are a cluster: one clot stays where it forms, one travels until it lodges. The third names the fatty deposit inside a wall.
A clot that stays.
MedTerm 0416 thromb/o: Clot
Thromb slash o names a blood clot. Thrombosis takes the universal suffix osis. A clot forming in place is named differently from one travelling through the circulation, which the next entry names.
A clot that moves.
MedTerm 0417 embol/o: Embolus
Embol slash o names an embolus, a mass travelling through the bloodstream until it lodges. A thrombus stays where it forms; an embolus moves. The distinction is where it is, not what it is.
Plaque inside a wall.
MedTerm 0418 ather/o: Fatty Plaque
Ather slash o names fatty plaque deposited within a vessel wall. Atherosclerosis names hardening with plaque; arteriosclerosis names hardening generally. One root is the whole difference between the two terms.
Eight entries on blood, opening with the unit's third Greek and Latin pair. Then colour roots naming cells, a root joining clot to cell, and a pair one step of clotting apart.
Blood as a substance.
MedTerm 0419 hem/o and hemat/o: Blood
Hem slash o and hemat slash o both name blood. These name blood as a substance, while the universal suffix emia, numbered in Unit Two, names a condition of the blood instead.
The Latin form for blood.
MedTerm 0420 sangui/o: Blood
Sangui slash o also names blood. Hem slash o is Greek and sangui slash o Latin, and both name one substance. This is the third such pair in the unit.
Red, and red cells.
MedTerm 0421 erythr/o: Red
Erythr slash o names the colour red, and in blood terms red blood cells. The related erythem slash o, from Unit Five, names redness of the skin rather than a cell.
White, and white cells.
MedTerm 0422 leuk/o: White
Leuk slash o names the colour white, and in blood terms white blood cells. Leukocytosis is an increase in these cells and leukopenia a deficiency, two opposite universal suffixes on one root.
Clot joined to cell.
MedTerm 0423 thrombocyt/o: Platelet
Thrombocyt slash o names a platelet, the blood cell fragment enabling clotting. Thrombocytopenia takes the universal suffix penia. The name joins clot and cell, because these fragments make clotting possible.
The liquid portion.
MedTerm 0424 plasm/o: Plasma
Plasm slash o names plasma, the liquid portion of blood carrying the cells. Plasma still contains the clotting proteins, and a separate term names the liquid without them.
The liquid after clotting.
MedTerm 0425 ser/o: Serum
Ser slash o names serum, the liquid remaining after blood has clotted. Plasma contains clotting proteins; serum does not. The two are not interchangeable: one step of clotting is the whole difference.
The root for iron.
MedTerm 0426 sider/o: Iron
Sider slash o names iron. Sideropenia takes the universal suffix penia from Unit Two. Sider slash o has no relation to the English word side, which is the reading to refuse.
Four suffixes numbered here rather than in the universal block, because each belongs to blood and to little else. Every other suffix here was front-loaded into Unit Two.
The oxygen-carrying protein.
MedTerm 0427 -globin: Protein
The suffix globin names a protein, and in blood terms the oxygen-carrying protein of red cells. Globin names the protein itself, not the cell containing it.
Ongoing production.
MedTerm 0428 -poiesis: Formation
The suffix poiesis names the ongoing formation of what its root identifies, while the universal suffix genesis from Unit Two names origin or first formation. The two are not the same claim.
Stopping, or standing still.
MedTerm 0429 -stasis: Stopping or Controlling
The suffix stasis names the stopping or controlling of what its root identifies. It can also name stagnation, so one suffix carries two readings and the root settles which.
A proportion, not a count.
MedTerm 0430 -crit: To Separate
The suffix crit names separation, and in blood terms the measured proportion of a component. A hematocrit is a proportion of blood volume, not a count of cells.
Five entries and no new word parts: the chambers, the two phases of one beat, and the two circuits every beat drives. Anatomy goes only as deep as the terminology needs.
Two above, two below.
MedTerm 0431 The Four Heart Chambers
The heart has four chambers: right and left atrium above, right and left ventricle below. Right and left are the patient's, so on an image the right side appears on the left.
The contracting phase.
MedTerm 0432 Systole
Systole is the phase of the heartbeat in which the ventricles contract and eject blood. Systolic pressure is the higher of the two numbers in a reading.
The filling phase.
MedTerm 0433 Diastole
Diastole is the phase in which the ventricles relax and fill with blood. Diastolic pressure is the lower of the two numbers. Systole and diastole are opposites.
Heart to lungs and back.
MedTerm 0434 The Pulmonary Circuit
The pulmonary circuit carries blood from the heart to the lungs and back. The pulmonary artery is an artery because it leaves the heart, whatever it carries, Topic One's definition under pressure.
Heart to everywhere else.
MedTerm 0435 The Systemic Circuit
The systemic circuit carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body and back, beginning at the aorta. Every beat drives both circuits at once, not one after the other.
Nine pathology entries, four of them cluster members: a widening against a narrowing, reduced supply against the tissue death that follows, pressure above the range against pressure below.
A localized widening.
MedTerm 0436 An Aneurysm
An aneurysm is a localized widening of an artery wall. A narrowing has its own term: the universal suffix stenosis, numbered in Unit Two.
Reduced supply.
MedTerm 0437 Ischemia
Ischemia is a deficiency of blood supply to a tissue. It is reduced flow, and the tissue death that can follow carries a different term at the next number.
Tissue death.
MedTerm 0438 An Infarction
An infarction is the death of tissue resulting from a loss of blood supply. Ischemia is reduced supply and infarction the death that follows: stages, not synonyms.
An irregular rhythm.
MedTerm 0439 An Arrhythmia
An arrhythmia is an abnormal or irregular heart rhythm. The term is also written dysrhythmia, taking the Unit Three prefix meaning abnormal rather than the one meaning without.
A sound, and only that.
MedTerm 0440 A Murmur
A murmur is an abnormal sound heard during the heartbeat, produced by turbulent blood flow. A murmur is a sound, and naming it states nothing about its cause.
A reduction, not an absence.
MedTerm 0441 Anemia
Anemia is reduced red blood cells or reduced hemoglobin. The Unit Three prefix a n means without, yet anemia names a reduction rather than an absence: a term whose parts overstate it.
Above the normal range.
MedTerm 0442 Hypertension
Hypertension is blood pressure persistently above the normal range, built on the universal prefix hyper from Unit Three. It names a measured finding, and its opposite differs from it by two letters.
Below the normal range.
MedTerm 0443 Hypotension
Hypotension is blood pressure persistently below the normal range, built on the universal prefix hypo. Hyper and hypo reverse the finding, and Unit Three names this as the pair where reversal matters most.
Four groups.
MedTerm 0444 The ABO Blood Groups
Human blood is classified into four ABO groups: A, B, A B, and O. The ABO group is recorded together with a separate positive or negative factor.
Four entries to close. The first gathers a blood pressure reading into its parts, the second builds terms join by join, the third separates the clot run. The capstone decodes fourteen terms.
Four terms inside one reading.
MedTerm 0445 Reading a Blood Pressure Term
A blood pressure term separates into instrument, phases, and direction. Sphygmomanometer carries the root sphygm, pulse, and names the instrument. Systolic is the contracting phase and the higher number, diastolic the relaxing phase and the lower. Hyper is above normal and hypo below, two letters, opposite findings. A reading always carries both numbers.
Four builds, every join named.
MedTerm 0446 Building Cardiovascular Terms
Building a term means choosing the combining form, then the suffix, then applying Unit One's joining rules. Carditis takes the root cardi, because itis opens with a vowel. Cardiomegaly takes cardi slash o, because megaly opens with a consonant. Electrocardiogram applies both rules at two joins, root to root and root to the consonant suffix gram.
Four terms, one sequence.
MedTerm 0447 Distinguishing Clot Terms
Four clot terms differ by whether the mass moves, and by what it does to tissue. A thrombus forms and stays. An embolus travels until it lodges elsewhere. Ischemia is reduced blood supply, whatever the reason. An infarction is tissue death following a loss of supply. Thrombus and embolus name the object; ischemia and infarction name what follows.
The capstone. Fourteen terms, decoded suffix first.
MedTerm 0448 Capstone: Fourteen Cardiovascular Terms Decoded
Fourteen terms decoded by Unit One's method, with the parts of Units Two through Seven. Carditis, cardiomegaly and cardiology carry one root through three suffixes. Phlebitis, angiorrhexis and arteriosclerosis move out to the vessels. Thrombosis, hematoma, erythrocyte, leukocytosis and thrombocytopenia work the blood roots. Electrocardiogram, hemostasis and sideropenia close the run. Terms ten and eleven put opposite suffixes on one root: one counts up, the other down.
Five things to carry out of Unit Seven. Cardi slash o is the heart, arteri slash o carries blood away, ven slash o back. Vessel, vein and blood each carry two roots, naming no second structure. A blood term takes a substance root or a colour root, plus one of this unit's four suffixes: globin the protein, poiesis production, stasis stopping, crit proportion. The heart has four chambers. Systole is the contraction and the higher number; diastole the relaxation and the lower. Every beat drives both circuits at once. A thrombus stays where it forms and an embolus travels until it lodges. Ischemia is reduced supply; infarction is the tissue death that can follow. A blood pressure term separates into an instrument, two phases, and a direction. Hyper is above the range and hypo below, and reversing them reverses the finding. Unit Eight turns to the lymphatic and immune systems, with this unit as prerequisite.
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