In this video, Dr. Anderson explains fundamental -- but often misunderstood -- concepts about the determinants of cardiac output, using his hydraulic model of the cardiovascular system.

This presentation demonstrates the unique nature of the heart as a non-sucking pump, whose output is controlled by systemic factors, as opposed to pumps (such as standard roller pumps) that suck to fill, whose output is controlled by pump factors. The resulting understanding is far more illuminating of the actual determinants of cardiac output than the "stroke rate times stroke volume" equation memorized in most physiology courses.

Please visit cardiac-output.info for a transcript, book text, and related materials.

Robert M. Anderson, MD, is Emeritus Associate Professor of Surgery and retired Associate Dean of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona, and is a Fellow of both the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Surgeons.