Binary vascular system

A binary vascular system was a type of circulatory system in which all the blood vessels lead to two hearts. Time Lords were perhaps the most notable species known to possess them (DW: Spearhead from Space, Robot, The Christmas Invasion).

The Doctor once encountered another double-hearted near-Human species called the Dulcians (DW: The Dominators), but in general binary vascular systems were not common amongst near-Humans. In the Mutter's Spiral galaxy, a few monopod species and a drone species also had two hearts (NA: Tragedy Day).

The full implications of a binary vascular system were unclear. However, the Dulcian Rago once told Jamie that beings with single hearts were physically weaker than those with two hearts. Similarly, when Henry van Statten performed an invasive scan of the Ninth Doctor, he marveled at the design and enthusiastically announced he was going to patent it. Given van Statten's obsession with superior technology, this suggested that two hearts were, literally, better than one. (DW: Dalek). Immediately after his regeneration, the Eighth Doctor was able to tear a heavy metal door from its hinges, perhaps indicating that Time Lords' vascular systems provided greater strength than a human's (DW: Doctor Who (1996)).