afterload /af·ter·load/ (-lōd″) the force against which cardiac muscle shortens: in isolated muscle, the force resisting shortening after the muscle is stimulated to contract; in the intact heart, the pressure against which the ventricle ejects blood.
afterload
afterload
af·ter·load ( f t r-l d )n. 1. The arrangement of a muscle so that it lifts a weight from an adjustable support or works against a constant opposing force to which it is not exposed when at rest. 2. The load or force thus encountered. |
afterload
Etymology: AS, aefter + ME lod
the load, or resistance, against which the left ventricle must eject its volume of blood during contraction. The resistance is produced by the volume of blood already in the vascular system and by the constriction of the vessel walls.
afterload
see cardiac afterload.
afterload
Cardiology The amount of hemodynamic pressure–peripheral vascular resistance downstream from the heart–which ↑ in heart failure 2º to aortic stenosis and HTN. Cf Preload Physiology The tension produced by heart
muscle after contraction.
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