Question 1

how is cardiac output calculated?

Accepted Answer

Indirectly: Indirectly, by equating the right cardiac output with the left cardiac output and putting a swan ganz catheter into the pulmonary artery.  Or calculating the difference between the arteriol and venous oxygen content; this is called the fick formula.

Question 2

what is an average cardiac output?

Accepted Answer

5 L per minute: The average cardiac output is somewhere around 5 l per minute.  Cardiac output varies with the size of the patient (larger patients have larger cardiac output). Cardiac output is increased in conditions such as fever, anemia, or pregnancy.

Question 3

what could increase cardiac output?

Accepted Answer

Cardiac output: Basically an increase in demand for oxygen by the body. This may be physiological (exercise) or pathological (sepsis - infection - fever) or increased metabolism (hyper active thyroid gland - hyperthyroidism) or abnormal conducts (shunting of blood).

Question 4

what systems affect cardiac output?

Accepted Answer

Heart rate, volume: Cardiac output is affected by heart rate and the volume of blood pumped out of the heart in each heart beat (stroke volume).  Factors that increase the heart rate (anxiety, fever, walking) increase cardiac output.  Similarly, factors that increase volume of blood that heart pumps with each cycle increase cardiac output.  High level athletes  have very high stroke volume, because of conditioning.

Question 5

what are normal cardiac output levels?

Accepted Answer

5 liters/min: A typical cardiac output is approximately 5 l per minute.  This can vary with the size of the patient with a larger patient having larger cardiac output.  When the cardiac output is normalized for the size of the patient, this is called the cardiac index.  A typical cardiac index would be 2.5.  A number of medical conditions, such as fever or anemia, can increase the cardiac output.

Question 6

why would someone have low cardiac output?

Accepted Answer

Congestive heart: Failure can be cause of low cardiac output.  If the pump is weak and failing then cardiac out put would be low.  Very slow heart rate can also result in low cardiac output.

Question 7

how is cardiac output regulated in the body?

Accepted Answer

Adrenaline: Cardiac output (co) is stroke volume (sv) times heart rate (hr) and adrenaline increases both sv and hr.

Question 8

what will happen if cardiac output decreases?

Accepted Answer

Cardiac Output: This is the amount of blood the heart pumps. If it decreases but is still adequate for the demands of the body, nothing much will happen. If it decreases below the metabolic demands of the body, organ dysfunction and shock will occur if the output level is low enough.

Question 9

what is the average number for cardiac output?

Accepted Answer

4 to 5 liters/min: Approximately 4-5 l per minute.  The cardiac output is proportional to the size of the patient.  You can "normalize" the cardiac output by dividing the cardiac output by the body surface area resulting in a "cardiac index".  The cardiac index is typically 2-3 l per minute per meter squared.

Question 10

what are some synonymous terms for cardiac output?

Accepted Answer

None: Cardiac output (co) is a very specific physiological variable defined by stroke volume (sv) times heart rate (hr):

co = sv x hr.

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How is cardiac output calculated?

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Why would someone have low cardiac output?

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