The
cardiac cycle refers to a complete heartbeat from its generation to the beginning of the next beat, and so includes the
diastole, the
systole, and the intervening pause. The frequency of the cardiac cycle is described by the
heart rate, which is typically expressed as
beats per minute. Each beat of the heart involves five major stages. The first two stages, often considered together as the "ventricular filling" stage, involve the movement of blood from the
atria into the
ventricles. The next three stages involve the movement of blood from the ventricles to the
pulmonary artery (in the case of the right ventricle) and the
aorta (in the case of the left ventricle).