Anaes · Applied cardiovascular & respiratory physiology

Applied cardiovascular & respiratory physiology

Also known as Cardiac output · Oxygen delivery · Frank-Starling mechanism · Oxygen dissociation curve · Ventilation-perfusion · Functional residual capacity · Dead space · Laplace law

The applied cardiovascular and respiratory physiology is the foundation of the anaesthetic practice. The framework rests on the determinants of the cardiac output (the heart rate, the preload, the contractility, the afterload) and the Frank-Starling mechanism; the control of the arterial pressure and the systemic vascular resistance; the oxygen delivery (the cardiac output times the arterial oxygen content) and the Fick principle; the oxygen cascade and the oxyhaemoglobin dissociation curve with its 2,3-DPG and the anaesthetic shifts; the lung volumes, the compliance, the surface tension and the Laplace law; the ventilation-perfusion matching and the dead space; and the effect of the anaesthesia on the respiratory mechanics (the fall of the functional residual capacity, the atelectasis).