The mechanics of ventricular function.
The introduction of new pharmacotherapies for long-term treatment of chronic cardiac failure has underscored the need for serial measurement of ventricular function in the ambulatory patient. Management strategies can best be guided by physiologic assessment of the heart's function as a muscular pump that must serve to propel gases to the metabolizing tissues on a moment-to-moment basis.
D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D009200:Myocardial Contraction; D013599:Systole; D016276:Ventricular Function