systole
Last reviewed 01/2018
Ventricular systole is the power generating phase of the cardiac cycle during which the ventricle is contracting.
Systole is defined differently according to how one observes the heart:
- structural definition:
- the ejection phase of ventricular contraction beginning with mitral valve closure and ending with aortic valve closure
- functional definition:
- the period of myocyte contraction
These two definitions are not equivalent because of the period of isovolumic contraction before ejection of blood occurs.