If stroke volume is reduced, what is the compensatory mechanism to maintain the cardiac output?
|If stroke volume is reduced, what is the compensatory mechanism to maintain the cardiac output?
Cardiac output is a product of stroke volume and heart rate. So if stroke volume decreases, there is a compensatory increase in heart rate so that the product (cardiac output) remains the same. This is achieved by activation of the sympathetic nervous system which stimulates the sino-atrial node to fire more rapidly.