Wiktionary
n. (context anatomy English) The valves in the heart which prevent blood from moving in the wrong direction.
WordNet
n. a valve to control one-way flow of blood [syn: cardiac valve]
an implant that replaces a natural heart valve
Wikipedia
A heart valve normally allows blood to flow in only one direction through the heart. The four valves commonly represented in a mammalian heart determine the pathway of blood flow through the heart. A heart valve opens or closes incumbent on differential blood pressure on each side.
The four main valves in the heart are:
- The two atrioventricular (AV) valves, the mitral valve (bicuspid valve), and the tricuspid valve, which are between the upper chambers (atria) and the lower chambers (ventricles).
- The two semilunar (SL) valves, the aortic valve and the pulmonary valve, which are in the arteries leaving the heart.
The mitral valve and the aortic valve are in the left heart; the tricuspid valve and the pulmonary valve are in the right heart.
There are also the coronary sinus and the inferior vena cava valves.
Usage examples of "heart valve".
Later, as she aged and the concept of maintenance eluded her, she began having parts replaced as they failed, until almost half of her body weight was composed of stainless steel (hips, elbows, shoulders, finger joints, rods fused to vertebrae five through twelve), silicon wafers (hearing aids, pace-maker, insulin pump), advanced polymer resins (cataract replacement lenses, dentures), Kevlar fabric (abdominal wall reinforcement), titanium (knees, ankles), and pork (ventricular heart valve).
Others were buried in the surgical history that Galena had read: the internal replacements for kidneys and liver, the hyperchip implant in one heart valve and the blood-filtering function.