THE EFFECT OF EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED HYPERVOLEMIA ON CARDIAC FUNCTION IN NORMAL SUBJECTS AND PATIENTS WITH MITRAL STENOSIS*

Abstract

The physiologic differences between various types of laboratory preparations and unanesthetized man have been in part responsible for a wide diversion of opinion concerning the control of cardiac function in man (1). While numerous studies of the regulation of cardiac performance have been carried out in animals, relatively few studies have been done in man(2). The present work was undertaken in an attempt to clarify some of the mechanisms concerned with the control of cardiac function in man and has included studies in normal subjects and patients with mitral stenosis.