Outline the determinants of venous return to the heart.
Answers should have included a description of the need for a pressure gradient for flow and a discussion on right atrial pressure, mean systemic filling pressure and resistance to blood flow. The discussion of each of these factors included definitions, normal values, factors affecting them and the direction of change on venous return. Diagrams were not essential, but their use assisted some candidates in explaining the effects of RAP on venous return.
For a diagram, the exam candidate would probably have to reproduce something like this:
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Guyton, A. "Circulatory Physiological: Cardiac Output and Its Regulation." Philadelphia and London: WB Saunders Company (1963).
Guyton, Arthur C. "Determination of cardiac output by equating venous return curves with cardiac response curves." Physiological reviews 35.1 (1955): 123-129.
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Guyton, Arthur C., Arthur W. Lindsey, and Berwind N. Kaufmann. "Effect of mean circulatory filling pressure and other peripheral circulatory factors on cardiac output." American Journal of Physiology-Legacy Content 180.3 (1955): 463-468.
Guyton, Arthur C., James H. Satterfield, and Jeff W. Harris. "Dynamics of central venous resistance with observations on static blood pressure." American Journal of Physiology-Legacy Content 169.3 (1952): 691-699.
Guyton, Arthur C., Dimitri Polizo, and George G. Armstrong. "Mean circulatory filling pressure measured immediately after cessation of heart pumping." American Journal of Physiology-Legacy Content 179.2 (1954): 261-267.
Guyton, Arthur C., et al. "Venous return at various right atrial pressures and the normal venous return curve." American Journal of Physiology-Legacy Content 189.3 (1957): 609-615.
Bendjelid, Karim. "Right atrial pressure: determinant or result of change in venous return?." Chest 128.5 (2005): 3639-3640.
Bendjelid, Karim. "Right atrial pressure: determinant or result of change in venous return?." Chest 128.5 (2005): 3639-3640.
Bressack, Michael A., and Thomas A. Raffin. "Importance of venous return, venous resistance, and mean circulatory pressure in the physiology and management of shock." Chest 92.5 (1987): 906-912.