Severe bilateral heart failure pulmonary hypertension Illustration and Icon

Severe bilateral heart failure pulmonary hypertension. A simplified cross-sectional diagram of the human heart depicts both atria and ventricles with the great vessels to contextualize biventricular pump failure and elevated pulmonary arterial pressure. The organ (heart) belongs to the cardiovascular system and resides in the thoracic mediastinum of Homo sapiens (human). Shown are the right atrium (RA) and right ventricle (RV) leading to the pulmonary artery (PA), and the left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV) leading to the aorta, separated by the interventricular septum; myocardial walls enclose endocardial chambers. In anatomy, physiology, and cardiology/pathology, the heart propels deoxygenated blood to the lungs and oxygenated blood to systemic tissues; in bilateral heart failure (HF), reduced ventricular function lowers cardiac output and causes congestion, while pulmonary hypertension (PH) denotes increased pressure within the pulmonary arterial tree. This schematic serves as an educational representation of cardiac chambers within the pulmonary and systemic circulations.