Heart

The heart is a muscular organ in most animals, which pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system.^[1]Blood provides the body with oxygen and nutrients, as well as assisting in the removal of metabolic wastes.^[2] In humans, the heart is located between the lungs, in the middle compartment of the chest.^[3]

Heart
The human heart
Details
System	Circulatory
Artery	Aorta,[a] pulmonary trunk and right and left pulmonary arteries,[b]right coronary artery, left main coronary artery[c]
Vein	Superior vena cava, inferior vena cava,[d]right and left pulmonary veins,[e]great cardiac vein, middle cardiac vein, small cardiac vein, anterior cardiac veins[f]
Nerve	Accelerans nerve, vagus nerve
Identifiers
Latin	cor
Greek	kardía (καρδία)
MeSH	D006321
TA	A12.1.00.001
FMA	7088
Anatomical terminology [edit on Wikidata]

Normal heart sounds Normal heart sounds as heard with a stethoscope

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The heart pumps blood with a rhythm determined by a group of pacemaking cells in the sinoatrial node. These generate a current that causes contraction of the heart, traveling through the atrioventricular node and along the conduction system of the heart. The heart receives blood low in oxygen from the systemic circulation, which enters the right atrium from the superior and inferior venae cavae and passes to the right ventricle. From here it is pumped into the pulmonary circulation, through the lungs where it receives oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide. Oxygenated blood then returns to the left atrium, passes through the left ventricle and is pumped out through the aorta to the systemic circulation−where the oxygen is used and metabolized to carbon dioxide.^[8] The heart beats at a resting rate close to 72 beats per minute.^[9] Exercise temporarily increases the rate, but lowers resting heart rate in the long term, and is good for heart health.^[10]

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the most common cause of death globally as of 2008, accounting for 30% of deaths.^[11][12] Of these more than three quarters are a result of coronary artery disease and stroke.^[11] Risk factors include: smoking, being overweight, little exercise, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and poorly controlled diabetes, among others.^[13] Cardiovascular diseases frequently do not have symptoms or may cause chest pain or shortness of breath. Diagnosis of heart disease is often done by the taking of a medical history, listening to the heart-sounds with a stethoscope, ECG, and ultrasound.^[3] Specialists who focus on diseases of the heart are called cardiologists, although many specialties of medicine may be involved in treatment.^[12]