Control of cardiac output Flashcards
Describe cardiac output
The amount of blood ejected from the heart per minute
Cardiac output equation
Cardiac output (CO) = Heart rate (HR) x Stroke volume (SV)
HR: how often the heart beats per minute
SV: how much blood (ml) is ejected per beat
Blood flow (CO) equation
Blood flow (CO)= BP / TPR
BP: blood pressure
TPR: total peripheral resistance
Blood pressure equation
BP: CO x TPR
Cardiac output at rest
70 bpm x 70 ml = approx 5 litres/min
Cardiac output during exercise
180 bpm x 120 ml = 22 litres/min
Define Preload and the Law governing it
STRETCHING OF LEFT VENTRICLE ON FILLING:
- The end diastolic volume that stretches the right or left ventricle of the heart to its greatest dimensions under variable physiologic demands
- Stretching at rest
- Increases Stroke Volume
- Governed by Starling’s law
Define Afterload and the Law governing it
RESISTANCE TO EJECTION
- The pressure against which the heart must work to eject blood during systole
- The end load against which the heart contracts to eject blood
- Governed by Laplace’s law
What controls heart rate?
- SA node pacemaker
- Sympathetic and Parasympathetic nerves
What is contractility?
Strength of contraction due to sympathetic nerves and circulating adrenaline increasing intracellular calcium
What is meant by energy of contraction?
Energy of contraction is the amount of work required to generate stroke volume
What two factors does energy of contraction depends on?
- Starling’s law
2. Contractility
What two functions does stoke work carry out?
- Contracts until chamber pressure is greater than aortic pressure (isovolumetric contraction)
- Ejection from ventricle
Relationship between preload and stroke volume
Preload increases the stroke volume
Relationships between afterload and stroke volume
Afterload opposes the stroke volume
What does starling’s law state?
- “energy of contraction of cardiac muscle is relative to the length of the muscle fibre at rest”
- This means that the greater the stretch of the ventricles in diastole (blood entering), the greater the energy of contraction and the greater the stroke volume achieved in systole (blood leaving)