Estimation of Plasma Volume of the Heart

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Abstract
It is assumed that the right and left ventricles of the heart and the pulmonary vascular bed act as 3 simple diluting pools arranged in series. A mathematical expression may then be analytically derived for the dye dilution curve obtained during measurement of cardiac output. With this equation the volumes of the 3 pools may be calculated. This hypothesis is justified here on the basis of 3 experimentally observed consistences: The theoretically calculated curves closely approximate the exptl. curves; the relationships between the coeffs. and exponents obtained empirically are those predicted by the theoretical analysis; and the sum of the 3 volumes is approx. equal to an independent determination of the total volume of the thoracic viscera.
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