Patient Care Technician (PCT) AAH Practice Exam

Disable ads (and more) with a membership for a one time $2.99 payment

Prepare for the Patient Care Technician (PCT) AAH Exam. Study with flashcards and multiple choice questions, complete with hints and explanations. Get ready to excel in your exam!

Each practice test/flash card set has 50 randomly selected questions from a bank of over 500. You'll get a new set of questions each time!

Practice this question and more.

Which layer of the heart is known as the muscular middle layer?

Endocardium
Myocardium
Pericardium
Epicardium

The correct answer is: Myocardium

The layer of the heart known as the muscular middle layer is the myocardium. This layer is primarily composed of cardiac muscle tissue, which is responsible for the heart's ability to contract and pump blood throughout the body. The thickness of the myocardium varies in different parts of the heart; for instance, the left ventricle has a thicker myocardium than the right ventricle due to the increased workload of pumping blood to the entire body compared to sending it to the lungs. Understanding the role of the myocardium is crucial for recognizing how the heart functions as a pump, as its contraction force is vital for maintaining blood circulation. The other layers, such as the endocardium (the inner lining of the heart), the epicardium (the outer layer of the heart), and the pericardium (the protective sac surrounding the heart), do not primarily consist of muscle tissue and therefore do not serve the same role in generating the heart's pumping action.