Question

A patient has a heart rate of 70 beats per minute, an EDV of 110 ml, and an ESV of 70 ml. What is the patient's cardiac output?

a) 2.8 L/minute
b) 18.0 L/minute
c) 4.9 L/minute
d) 11.1 L/minute

Answer 1

The patient's cardiac output can be calculated by multiplying the stroke volume by the heart rate. In this case, the answer is 2.8 L/minute.

Step-by-step explanation:

Cardiac output (CO) is the amount of blood pumped by each ventricle in one minute. To calculate it, we multiply the stroke volume (SV), the amount of blood pumped by each ventricle, by heart rate (HR). In this case, the patient's EDV is 110 ml and ESV is 70 ml, so the stroke volume is 110 ml - 70 ml = 40 ml. The patient's heart rate is 70 beats per minute, so the cardiac output is 40 ml * 70 beats per minute = 2800 ml/minute. Converting this to liters per minute, we get 2.8 L/minute, so the correct answer is option a) 2.8 L/minute.