Heart anatomy

Your heart has four separate chambers that pump blood. The chambers are called the right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium, and left ventricle.

The right side of your heart receives oxygen-poor blood from your veins (the vena cava) and pumps it to your lungs (through the pulmonary artery), where the blood picks up oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide. The left side of your heart receives oxygen-rich blood from your lungs (through the pulmonary veins) and pumps it to the rest of your body (through the aorta).