摘要 |
A non-invasive method for determining the stroke volume of the heart, i.e. the volume of blood discharged per heart beat. A pressure transducer, is placed in a hollow organ, such as the lungs, stomach or bladder of a subject. During ventilation of, or breathing by, the subject, the incremental change in pressure in the hollow organ resulting from an incremental change in breathing gas volume in the subject's lungs is obtained and a ratio between the two is established. The pressure change in the hollow organ caused by volumetric changes resulting from the contraction of the subject's heart when discharging blood is also measured. The stroke volume of the subject's heart is determined by applying the volume/pressure ratio to the pressure change resulting from the contraction of the heart.
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