Cardiac output is characterized by?

Cardiac output is characterized by?

• A. The volume of blood ejected by the ventricle per minute
• B. The volume of blood in the aorta
• C. The heart rate multiplied by end-diastolic volume
• D. The pressure generated in the left ventricle

Answer: (A)

Cardiac output is the volume of blood the heart ejects from a ventricle per minute. It reflects how much blood is delivered to the systemic circulation each minute and is determined by heart rate and stroke volume. Stroke volume is the amount of blood ejected with each beat, calculated as end-diastolic volume minus end-systolic volume, so CO equals heart rate times stroke volume. This makes CO a measure of forward blood flow, not just the amount of blood in the aorta, not heart rate multiplied by end-diastolic volume, and not the pressure generated in the ventricle, which describes pressure, not the quantity of blood pumped per minute.

Cardiac output is the volume of blood the heart ejects from a ventricle per minute. It reflects how much blood is delivered to the systemic circulation each minute and is determined by heart rate and stroke volume. Stroke volume is the amount of blood ejected with each beat, calculated as end-diastolic volume minus end-systolic volume, so CO equals heart rate times stroke volume. This makes CO a measure of forward blood flow, not just the amount of blood in the aorta, not heart rate multiplied by end-diastolic volume, and not the pressure generated in the ventricle, which describes pressure, not the quantity of blood pumped per minute.