How the heart works

This section is designed to help you understand how the heart works and what can go wrong.  It cannot address every aspect of heart disease but is more of a general introduction to the most common problems that affect people.  More than one problem can occur at the same time, and one problem can lead to another.  How heart disease affects one person will be different to another person’s experience.  This is why two people with the same diagnosis may not always be given the same treatment.

The information in this information journey has been adapted from the Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland leaflet "Understanding heart disease".

Last updated: 22/07/2010