The heart pumps blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels for a daily volume of 2,000 gallons of blood. That's enough to fill a 10 x 20-foot pool 10 feet deep, and the heart does this by beating 100,000 times a day, circulating blood throughout the body in a mere 20 seconds from an organ not much larger than a grapefruit.

This is why a healthy heart is so important, and why anatomical models are so essential to doctors, cardiac surgeons, medical teaching staff and even grade school and high school teachers. Models, more than lectures or simple diagrams, demonstrate and emphasize the importance in maintaining the health of this workhorse of the human body, and also provide a visual aid to common heart defects for patients about to undergo heart surgery.

The giant heart model, at one and one-half times normal size, provides an enlarged view of the heart's anatomy and function which is especially useful in teaching situations, whether at the elementary or post-secondary level. The two halves fit together unobtrusively, providing a natural view of the heart's internal and external function. Both the tricuspid and bicuspid valves, molded from resin, are highly defined, and the marble base provides pre-eminent stability and 360-degree viewing.

The jumbo heart model, four times the size of a real heart, breaks down into three parts showing anterior, posterior and internal views along with heart-valve details, and also comes on a stand which allows circumferential viewing by many students at the same time.

To aid in patient education, models of both normal and diseased hearts give cardiac surgeons an edge to combat the normal fears of individuals facing heart surgery. Doctors and surgeons can choose from normal-size or enlarged heart models, with or without coronary bypass definition, which show coronary and venal bypasses, including the ramus circumflexus of the left coronary artery, all displayed in accurate, intense color. The classic, two-part model comes on a stand, and the front heart wall is detachable to show the interior functioning.

The paradigm in patient education is the giant, hands-on, unbreakable heart model, three times the size of a normal, adult heart with three hinged doors which open to reveal the four chambers and their associated valves. On the back, this model also displays an anatomically correct portion of the trachea and esophagus, and the heart can either rotate on its base or be removed for demonstration purposes and comes with a study guide describing the 39 key features of the model.

Finally, diseased heart models with their accompanying, full-color education cards can be used either to educate patients in healthy heart practices, or to reassure and instruct patients facing coronary surgery.

These models, with their removable parts showing the various stages of coronary heart disease, are a reassuring adjunct to a surgical discussion of the risks and benefits of surgery, and help compassionate medical professionals explain the steps needed to correct disease conditions in understandable terms.