NBE Cardiac Anatomy & Physiology 2

Question 1

The aortic valve normally has how many leaflets (cusps)?

Accepted Answer

Three

Answer

The normal aortic valve is tricuspid, consisting of three semilunar cusps: left, right, and non-coronary.

Question 2

Which cardiac chamber has the thickest myocardial wall under normal physiological conditions?

Accepted Answer

Left ventricle

Answer

The left ventricle has the thickest wall (8–12 mm) because it must generate high pressure to eject blood into the systemic circulation.

Question 3

The fossa ovalis is a remnant of which fetal structure?

Accepted Answer

Foramen ovale

Answer

The fossa ovalis is a depression in the interatrial septum that marks the location of the foramen ovale, which closes after birth.

Question 4

Preload in the heart is best defined as:

Accepted Answer

The ventricular wall tension at the end of diastole

Answer

Preload is the end-diastolic ventricular wall tension (or filling pressure/volume) that stretches the myocardium before contraction.

Question 5

The coronary sinus drains deoxygenated blood from the myocardium into which cardiac chamber?

Accepted Answer

Right atrium

Answer

The coronary sinus opens into the right atrium, delivering venous blood from the cardiac veins back into the systemic venous circulation.

(NBE) National Board of Echocardiography Practice Test