What are the valves of the heart and their normal function?
The heart has four chambers and four valves. The four chambers of the heart are the right atrium (RA), the right ventricle (RV), the left atrium (LA) and the left ventricle (LV). The RV empties into a large vessel called the pulmonary artery and the LV empties into a large artery called the Aorta. The chambers on the right side of the heart do not normally communicate with the chambers on the left side of the heart.
The valves of the heart are the tricuspid valve (TV), the pulmonary valve (PV), the mitral valve (MV) and the aortic valve (AoV). The TV is located between the RA and RV, the PV is located between the RV and PA, the MV is located between the LA and LV and the AoV is located between the LV and the aorta. The blood in the heart normally flows only forward, in one direction. The function of all the valves are to maintain this forward flow and to prevent leakage of blood into the previous chamber.
