Cardiovascular Physiology Flashcards: How to Learn the Circulatory System in 75 Cards
Learn cardiovascular physiology with 75 real flashcards: heart valves, circuits, coronary flow, blood, ECG and angiography, plus 4 cards to fix first.
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Deck QC8226 – Cardiovascular Physiology has 75 cards. Despite the title, it reads like a tour of the whole circulatory system: anatomy, blood, clinical tests, even fish and flatworm hearts. That is useful, as long as you know where it falls short. Here is how to study it well.
Study this deck: Cardiovascular Physiology
1 / 10What three main components make up the circulatory system?
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
What the cards actually ask
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| Two major circuits of the circulatory system | Pulmonary circulation (to/from lungs) and systemic circulation (to/from body) |
| What valve separates the right atrium from the right ventricle? | The tricuspid valve (right atrioventricular valve) |
| Percentage of arterial oxygen combined with hemoglobin | About 98.5% (about 1.5% dissolved in plasma) |
| Average blood volume in an adult human | 5 to 6 quarts (≈4.7-5.7 L), about 7% of body weight |
| Coronary sinus | Receives blood from the coronary veins before draining into the right atrium |
| Share of cardiac output received by the kidneys | Around 20% |
| Estimated length of muscle capillaries in a 70 kg human | Between 9,000 and 19,000 km |
| What advantage does a four-chambered heart provide? | Blood is repressurized after the lungs, speeding oxygen delivery |
Vocabulary you will master
Aorta, superior and inferior vena cava, tricuspid, pulmonary and aortic semilunar valves, arterioles, venules, capillaries, microcirculation, great vessels, coronary and cerebral circulation, circle of Willis, hepatic portal vein, bronchial circulation, neurovascular unit, hemoglobin, plasma, platelets, atherosclerosis, thrombus, DVT, embolism, aneurysm, acute coronary syndromes, sphygmomanometer, ECG, coronary angiography, stents, angioplasty, bypass surgery, vein stripping, hemolymph, hemocyanin, hemocytes, and the Ebers Papyrus.
Study it in four blocks
- Anatomy and flow (cards 1-33, 71-74): trace one red blood cell from vena cava to aorta and say every chamber and valve out loud.
- Blood (34-38): four components, one function each.
- Clinic (39-58): pair each disease with the test or procedure that finds or fixes it (atherosclerosis → angiography → stent or bypass).
- Comparative physiology (59-70): fish 2 chambers, amphibians 3, mammals, birds and crocodilians 4. Tag this block optional if you are preparing a medical exam.
Four cards to fix before you start
- Card 33 is wrong. In the fetus, blood skips the lungs through the ductus arteriosus and the foramen ovale. The truncus arteriosus is an embryonic outflow tract, not a shunt. Rewrite the back.
- The mitral valve is missing. The deck teaches tricuspid, pulmonary and aortic valves but never the fourth. Add: "Valve between left atrium and left ventricle → mitral (bicuspid) valve."
- Card 71: the bronchial arteries branch from the aorta, so they belong to the systemic circulation. They are not a separate circuit.
- The physiology is thin. "Cardiac output" appears in card 28 but is never defined. Write your own cards for CO = heart rate × stroke volume, the SA node → AV node → bundle of His → Purkinje sequence, systole vs diastole, and the Frank-Starling law. Physiology exams test these first.
Tip: for the valves, remember "Try Pulling My Aorta": tricuspid, pulmonary, mitral, aortic, in the order blood crosses them. With the mitral card added, the mnemonic covers all four valves.
Keep going
Once the heart makes sense, move to the kidneys and lungs with our guide to Renal and Respiratory Physiology, then Neuro and Endocrine Physiology.
Open Flip It, search the library for QC8226, and start with block 1.
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