Chapter 3 – Fluid Movement in the Body: Primer to the Cardiovascular System

This chapter deals with fluid handling by the cardiovascular (CV) system. It especially attempts to integrate what was learned in the previous two chapters about fluid movement and analyze it within the context of a closed circuit with a pump, that is, the CV system. After completing this chapter, the reader should have a clearer understanding of the physiology of the blood vessels and the heart and why the CV system is designed as it is. The reader should develop a better understanding of key clinical concepts such as the cardiac cycle, cardiac output, and the Frank–Starling mechanism, preload and afterload. The reader should also be able to understand better the vascular function curves.