Fig. 1

Venous return and ventricular output curves by arterial oxygenation status. Relationship between cardiac output (CO) and central venous pressure (CVP) in a venous return curve and between CO and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) in a ventricular output curve for the averaged patient (Table 3). At zero blood flow mean systemic filling pressure (P _msf) and critical closing pressure (P _cc) are indicated. Venous return curves and ventricular output curves for arterial normoxia and hyperoxia are given