Frank-Starling law

Frank-Starling law

Frank-Starling mechanism A law that states that the energy liberated with each cardiac contraction is a function of the length of the muscle fibers in the ventricular wall; as preload ↑, so does end-diastolic pressure, which ↑ force of ventricular contraction; in CHF, the FSL results in marked inefficiency in cardiac pumping

McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Frank-Starling law

(frănk′stăr′lĭng)

In cardiac physiology, the rule stating that cardiac output increases in proportion to the diastolic stretch of heart muscle fibers.

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