Cardiac Output Chart

The EDV, or the end-diastolic volume, is the amount of blood in the ventricle at the end of ventricular diastole or filling. The ESV, or the end-systolic volume, is the amount of blood remaining in the ventricle after ventricular systole or ejection. These volumes are important as the difference between the EDV and ESV is the stroke volume, which is used for cardiac output calculation. (Martini et al., 2017, 686)

There are many different cardiac output formulae, some more complicated than others. This simple formula can be used whenever stroke volume, or EDV and ESV, are known. Other cardiac output formulae are more appropriate for different techniques, such as thermodilution or Fick cardiac output calculation- but will require knowledge of more parameters.

This cardiac output formula is one of the simplest and quickest you can use to estimate cardiac output. If you have the stroke volume, all you will need to do is measure the patient’s heart rate, input the numbers into the formula, do one or two simple calculations, and you will have the cardiac output.