Answer:
"Blood enters the right atrium via the superior and inferior vena cava, flows to the right ventricle and then into the lungs, returns from the lungs to the left atrium and left ventricle, and exits out the aorta."
Step-by-step explanation:
The patient shows understanding by correctly reporting the functioning of the heart. The heart works as follows:
When the atria contract (atrial systole), the valves that separate the atria from the ventricles open, allowing blood to pass into the atria. Then contraction of the ventricles (ventricular systole) occurs. At this point, valves that separate the atria from the ventricles close, preventing blood from returning to the atria. The valves that exist at the border of the heart with the pulmonary and aorta arteries open, the blood that leaves the right ventricle is sent to the lungs, and the blood that leaves the left ventricle gains the rest of the body through the aorta.
During diastole (or relaxation), the whole heart (atria and ventricles) relaxes, and the heart fills. The left atrium is filled with freshly oxygenated blood from the lungs; The right atrium is filled with carbon-rich blood from the rest of the body. All blood, whether rich in oxygen or carbon dioxide, reaches the heart through the veins.