JUL 22, basic medical science: left ventricular ejection fraction

  

a) Reprise of material posted on July 22 in previous years

2020: at heart, myocardial ischemia (illustrated poem)
2021: death and afterlife, cardiac arrest (illustrated poem) 
2022: at heart, arteriopath (poem)
2023: patients and maladies, nervous bladder (poem)

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b) Today's offering (Jul 22,2024): 

Authors' Note: In disease states, including those producing congestive heart failure, the ejection fraction of the left ventricle, a measure indicating the strength of contraction, provides important information concerning prognosis (potential outcome) and the need for treatment. 

   The ejection fraction can be measured by echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, or several different nuclear (radio-isotope) techniques. These techniques measure the volume of the ventricle at the end of diastolic (relaxation) and systolic (contraction) phases of the cardiac cycle. Despite the name, the change during systole is generally given in medical jargon as the percent relative change, rather than as a true fraction; e.g. 60% is good, 30% is bad.

 

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