Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-669899f699-7xsfk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-29T16:19:12.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 30 - Cardiovascular Physiology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2025

By
Jessica Brodt  and
Kaitlin Flannery
Edited by
Dharti Patel ,
Sang J. Kim ,
Himani V. Bhatt  and
Alopi M. Patel
Dharti Patel
Affiliation:
Mount Sinai West and Morningside Hospitals, New York
Sang J. Kim
Affiliation:
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
Himani V. Bhatt
Affiliation:
Mount Sinai West and Morningside Hospitals, New York
Alopi M. Patel
Affiliation:
Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey
Get access

Summary

The chapter discusses basic cardiac physiology topics. Cardiac cycle begins in the atrium at the SA node and propagates via the electrical pathway to the ventricular myocardium. Automaticity in the SA node is achieved by a slow spontaneous depolarization of the membrane during phase 4. Heart rate is regulated by interaction between sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. At rest, the vagal effects usually dominate. Frank–Starling law is the relation between myocardial fiber length and strength of contraction. Contractility measures cardiac performance at a given preload and afterload. Blood flow through the capillaries is regulated by arterioles. The Starling equation describes the net capillary filtration. Fluid filtrated from the capillaries is transported via the lymphatic system back to the circulation. Coronary blood flow is mainly regulated via local metabolites.

Keywords

Action potentialWiggersFrank–Starling lawMyocardial ContractilityBaroreceptor reflexBainbridge reflexBezold–Jarisch reflexFahraeus–Lindqvist effect
Type
Chapter
Information
BASIC Essentials
A Comprehensive Review for the Anesthesiology BASIC Exam
 , pp. 161 - 166
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Crystal, GJ, Assaad, SI, Heerdt, PM. Cardiovascular physiology: integrative function. In Hemmings, HC, Egan, TD, editors. Pharmacology and Physiology for Anesthesia, 2nd ed. Elsevier, 2019; chapter 24.Google Scholar
Pagel, P, Freed, J. Cardiac physiology. In Kaplan, JA, Augoustides, JGT, Manecke, GR, Maus, T, Reich, DL, editors. Kaplan’s Cardiac Anesthesia, 7th ed. Elsevier, 2017; pp 143–178.Google Scholar
Costanzo, LS. Cardiovascular physiology. In Physiology, 4th ed. Saunders Elsevier, 2010; chapter 4.Google Scholar
Cardiovascular physiology & anesthesia. In Butterworth, JF IV, Mackey, DC, Wasnick, JD. editors. Morgan & Mikhail’s Clinical Anesthsiology, 7th ed. McGraw-Hill, 2022; chapter 20.Google Scholar
Warltier, DC, Campagna, JA, Carter, C. Clinical relevance of the Bezold-Jarisch reflex. Anesthesiology 2003;98:1250–1260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ascolese, M, Farina, A, Fasano, A. The Fahraeus-Lindqvist effect in small blood vessels: how does it help the heart? J Biol Phys 2019;45(4):379–394.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Page, SM, Rollins, MD. Physiology and pharmacology of obstetric anesthesia. In Hemmings, HC, Egan, TD, editors. Pharmacology and Physiology for Anesthesia, 2nd ed. Elsevier, 2019; chapter 37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×