Glossary
Terms
S
- Saturation
- A measure (in percent) of how close to full your red blood cells are with respect to their oxygen-carrying capacity.
- Spirometry
- A measurement of how fast you can expel the air in your lungs; usually a part of PFTs.
- Subclavian vein
- A large vein in the upper chest (between the shoulder and neck) that carries blood back to the heart and is often used in right heart catheterization or as a site for a long-term indwelling catheter through which medication may be infused.
- Superior vena cava
- One of the largest veins in the body, located in the chest; all blood in the upper body (above the heart) travels through this vein which then empties into the right atrium.
- Systemic blood pressure
- The blood pressure in the main arteries of your body that run
from the left side of your heart to the rest of your body (arms, legs, intestines, kidneys,brain, etc
- Systole
- The period of time when the heart is contracting and pumping blood to the lungs and the rest of the body
- Systolic blood pressure
- (the top number of the reading) is measured during systole