Effect of Blood and Saline Infusion on Cardiac Performance in Normal Dogs and Dogs with Arteriovenous Fistulas

Maximum left ventricular work response (and other hemodynamic changes) to infusion of saline and whole blood was compared in normal dogs and in dogs with aorta-caval and multiple peripheral fistulas. In the dogs with fistulas the augmented preinfusion levels of cardiac work and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure approximated those in normal dogs after maximum response to infusion. Following infusion in the dogs with fistulas, end-diastolic pressure characteristically increased but cardiac work did not. Thus maximum cardiac work was of the same order of magnitude in the normal dogs and in the dogs with fistulas. In all groups maximum left ventricular work was effected mainly through an increased cardiac output.