Pulmonary valve
Valva trunci pulmonalis
CardiovascularOrgansThorax
- What it is
- Three thin semilunar cusps (anterior, left and right) at the top of the right ventricular outflow tract, the most anterior and superior of the four valves.
- Function
- Lets the right ventricle eject into the pulmonary trunk and prevents back-flow during diastole.
- Size
- Annulus ~20–25 mm; cusps thinner than the aortic ones because pulmonary pressures are ~1/5 of systemic.
- Clinical note
- Heard best in the left 2nd intercostal space; the pulmonary component of S2 normally splits from the aortic one on inspiration.