NATS 1540 Lecture Notes - Lecture 69: External Jugular Vein, Ductus Arteriosus, Sternocleidomastoid Muscle
31 May 2020
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Document Summary
The carotid artery is located in the groove between the trachea and the sternomastoid muscle (medial to and along side that muscle). Its pulse wave has a dicrotic notch caused by the closure of the aortic valve. The jugular veins empty unoxygenated blood into the superior vena cava. Two jugular veins are present on each side of the neck. The larger internal jugular lies deep and medial to the sternomastoid muscle (usually not visible but can be seen in the sterna notch if the person is supine). The external jugular vein is more superficial (lies lateral to the sternomastoid muscle, above the clavicle). The jugular pulse results from a backwash, a waveform moving backwards caused by events upstream. The jugular pulse has 5 components (a wave, c wave, x descent, v wave, and y descent). The fetal heart functions early (begins to beat at the end of 3 weeks" gestation).
