Miniaturized journey through the femoral vein to pulmonary artery

Fantastic Voyage-Fem artery to Right lung

A Fantastic Voyage from the Right Femoral Artery to the Right Lung

The human body is an intricate system of labyrinths that work together to maintain essential functions and thus maintain an individuals physical health. Two systems that work together are the circulatory and cardiopulmonary systems. Together, these systems help to transport gasses, nutrients, wastes, and hormones to various organs in the body. While it is may be easy to get lost in the multitude of paths that lead to the rest of the body from the heart, finding one's way from the right femoral vein to the lower lobe of the right lung via the right pulmonary artery is much simpler than would be expected.

Let us begin our journey in the right femoral vein. After a long and treacherous journey, we find ourselves in the right femoral vein and must figure out how to get out of our test subject's body before we run out of energy. Through our experiences, we have learned that the circulatory system has access to all parts of the body and facilitates the transportation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. We currently find ourselves surrounded by deoxygenated blood, thus establishing that we are on a path that will enable us to leave the subject's body. As we travel through the femoral vein, we note that we are surrounded by various types of blood cells including erythrocytes (red blood cells), leukocytes (white blood cells), and thrombocytes (platelets) (Cotterill, 2000). Blood is pumped through the body by the heart, which will beat an average of 60-80 times per minute (Gregory, n.d.). As we travel up towards the heart, we find ourselves merging with the right external iliac vein. The external iliac vein is responsible for transporting deoxygenated blood from the legs back to the heart and is located behind the inguinal ligament in the lower regions of the abdomen (Inner Body, 2011). As we continue our journey, you may notice that we are approaching a much bigger avenue, the inferior vena cava. As we merge into this large vein, we must keep in mind that we are not the only one's traveling into the inferior vena cava, but also that blood from the left side of the body is joining us as we continue our journey to the inferior lobe of the right lung. The inferior vena cava is a large vein that ascends through an individual's abdomen (Inner Body, 2011). The inferior vena cava mixes blood collected from the hepatic veins, lumbar veins, gonadal veins, renal veins, and phrenic veins and transports this collection of blood up to the heart. Just like us, these veins help to transport deoxygenated blood from their respective regions up to the heart and on to the lungs. With every pump of the heart we find ourselves a tiny bit closer to the splendid cardiac muscle. Soon we will find ourselves in the superior vena cava waiting to enter the heart.

The heart is a fascinating organ and is solely responsible for moving blood through the body through channels known as arteries, veins, and capillaries. The heart is made up of two separate pumps, each responsible for a different task; furthermore, each pump is made up of an atrium and a ventricle. While the left side of the heart is charged with pumping blood to the body, the right side of the heart is responsible for pumping blood to the lungs (Gregory, n.d.). In order to get into the heart, we must first pass through its right atrium, where blood from the inferior and superior vena cava converges. It is important to note the structure of this chamber. The right atrium has "relatively thing walls and receives blood returning through the veins" (Inner Body, 2011). Just as quickly as the heart proceeds to its next pump, we pass through the tricuspid valve -- which will close behind us to prevent blood from flowing back into the right atrium -- and into the right ventricle. The right ventricle works in conjunction with the left ventricle as these two chambers work together to by forcing the blood out of the heart into arteries that will transport blood to various parts of the body (Inner Body, 2011). The right ventricle, in particular, is responsible for making sure that blood is pumped to the lungs. Unlike the left ventricle, however, the right ventricle has a much thinner wall, which may explain why it only pumps blood a short distance as opposed to the left ventricle, which has to forcefully push blood to the rest of the body.