Experimental Hypervolemic Heart Failure: Its Bearing on Certain General Principles of Heart Failure

Infusion of large volumes of fluid into normal dogs produces a progressive rise in venous pressure with an initial parallel rise in cardiac output succeeded by a fall. On the basis of these experiments and other considerations which are discussed, it is concluded that the cardinal hemodynamic defect common to all types of heart failure is a disproportion between inflow load and cardiac output. The various general circulatory disorders are classified as primary disorders of filling and primary disorders of emptying with various subgroups.