Anatomy
The pulmonary valve is one of the four valves of the heart and is located between the large pulmonary artery (truncus pulmonalis) and the right main chamber. The pulmonary valve is a pocket valve and usually consists of 3 pocket valves in total. These include: The pockets have an indentation which fill with blood when the aortic valve is closed.
In addition, they all have a small fibrous knot that meets when the valve is closed. The valve is formed in the fetus in the 5th to 7th week of embryonic development.
- Valvula semilunaris dextra, the right crescent shaped pocket
- Valvula semilunaris sinistra, the left crescent shaped pocket
- Valvula semilunaris anterior, the anterior crescent-shaped pocket
- Right atrium – Atrium dextrum
- Right ventricle -Ventriculus dexter
- Left atrium – Atrium sinistrum
- Left ventricle -Ventriculus sinister
- Aortic arch – Arcus aortae
- Superior vena cava -V. cava superior
- Inferior vena cava -V. inferior cava
- Trunk of the pulmonary arteries -Truncus pulmonalis
- Left pulmonary veins -Vv. pulmonary sinastrae
- Right pulmonary veins -Vv. pulmonales dextra
- Mitral valve – Valva mitralis
- Tricuspid valve -Valva tricuspidalis
- Chamber septum – interventricular septum
- Aortic valve – Valva aortae
- Papillary muscle – M. papillaris
- Pulmonary valve – Valva trunci pulmonalis
Function
The pulmonary valve prevents blood from flowing back into the right ventricle from the pulmonary artery, which transports oxygen-depleted blood to the lungs. When the heart contracts in the cardiac action, blood is pumped from the right main chamber by pressure into the large pulmonary artery (truncus pulmonalis) and thus into the lungs, where it is enriched with oxygen. For this to work, the pulmonary valve must open.
The heart must then go limp again in order to fill up with blood again. If the pulmonary valve did not exist, the pumped blood would reflux. This is why the pulmonary valve closes during this phase, preventing the backflow.
If the closing of the pulmonary valve no longer works, this is called pulmonary valve insufficiency, and the blood flows back into the heart. The opposite of this is called pulmonary valve stenosis, in which the heart valve does not open enough and the blood can only flow with difficulty from the heart into the pulmonary circulation. Both diseases lead to an overload of the heart, since more force must be applied to achieve the same outflow as with a healthy valve.
