Dance of the Scaffold
“I came upon a fair young maiden while pondering things of position,
And requested of her the dance of her heart
Which in the past had explained it all
With a slow downwardand rightward tilt, with right side down and left side up,
She slid upon the ground
With the point of her toes to the left and forward.
A graceful stance she bore
No sooner did she have this done,
When I did see her make
That beautiful arching upward twist,
With right hip frontward, and the left to the back.
And right was front and up
And left was down and back
She turned her head back toward me in question,
And with a wink of an eye she did ask,
“Was that the dance thou hadst in mind?”
“Of course” I declared, “…and how beautiful it was!” –
And I forever knew
How the heart of the fair young maiden did stand –
And in fact how the heart of mankind had stood forever.” (AD)
(Image courtesy of Ashley Davidoff M.D.)
The scaffolding of the heart can be represented by a cross, consisting of two upper smaller components, and two larger lower components. This is only a conceptual 2 dimensional and symmetrical model that will help you understand the structure of the chambers and how the vessels and nerves are arranged around the scaffolding. As the story unfolds the complexity of structure will unfold, but it is important to understand that underlying the complexity there is a simple infrastructure.
Ashley Davidoff MD Copyright 2018
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The right sided structures lie anteriorly and slightly superiorly, while the left in turn lie posteriorly and inferiorly. In addition the atria lie posteriorly and slightly superiorly, while the ventricles lie in turn inferiorly and anteriorly. The maiden ends up with left sided structures down and posterior and right end up anteriorly and superiorly. her head and chest represent the atria which are superior and posterior and her legs represent the ventricles which are inferior and anterior.