Looking at what cardiac output is, cardiac output is how much blood heart pumps in a short period of time or in 1 minute. The doctors usually use the measurement to see if there is a problem with the heart or to check how well a treatment works. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the cells, and it takes away wastes like carbon dioxide. If the heart pumps too little or too much blood through the body, it could be a sign of heart failure or other medical problems.
What Happen When Cardiac Output Normal
This is different for different people, depending on their size. Usually, an adult heart pumps about 3-4 liters of blood in a minute at rest. But when run or doing exercise, the heart may pump 3-4 times that much to make sure the body gets enough oxygen and fuel.
How It is been Measured
The cardiac output is the heartbeats per minute multiplied by the amount of blood pumped with each beat. A doctor can measure it in lots of ways. The pulmonary artery catheter can be inserted into the artery that sends blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen. And Echocardiogram uses sound waves to make an image of the heart and blood flow through the heart. Arterial pulse waveform analysis the cardiac output from shock waves created by blood flow.
What Happen When Cardiac output Low
If the heart doesn’t pump enough blood to supply the body and tissues, it could be a signal of heart failure. Low output also could happen when there is loss of too much blood, had a severe infection called sepsis, or had severe heart damage.
What Will Happen When Cardiac Output High
Many times, sepsis is the body’s reaction to blood infections which can lead to a dangerous drop in blood pressure and organ failure, can cause high cardiac output.
High output also can happen when the body lacks enough oxygen-carrying red blood cells, a condition referred to as anemia. That makes the heart pump more blood faster. Another common cause is hyperthyroidism, that’s when the thyroid gland makes more thyroid hormones than needed. It must be noted that the best cardiac is normal output when it is high the outcome will be very dangerous and at the same time when it is low, the same thing happens.