Your Heart

Your heart pumps blood through your body, collects it back, pumps it to the lungs to add oxygen, and starts all over again. The heart has four chambers and four valves that open and close to control the flow of blood in and out of the heart.

Heart valves operate like one-way gates. They open to allow blood flow through your heart and out to your body. They close to stop blood from flowing back into the heart after it has been expelled. The valves permit blood to flow in only one direction, or pathway, through your heart.

A healthy aortic valve opens wide to allow proper blood flow and closes tightly to stop blood flow