End-systolic volume (ESV) is the volume of blood in a ventricle at the end of contraction, or

systole Systole ( ) is the part of the cardiac cycle during which some chambers of the heart contract after refilling with blood. The term originates, via New Latin, from Ancient Greek (''sustolē''), from (''sustéllein'' 'to contract'; from ''sun ...

, and the beginning of filling, or

diastole Diastole ( ) is the relaxed phase of the cardiac cycle when the chambers of the heart are re-filling with blood. The contrasting phase is systole when the heart chambers are contracting. Atrial diastole is the relaxing of the atria, and ventric ...

. ESV is the lowest volume of blood in the ventricle at any point in the

cardiac cycle The cardiac cycle is the performance of the human heart from the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next. It consists of two periods: one during which the heart muscle relaxes and refills with blood, called diastole, following ...

. The main factors that affect the end-systolic volume are

afterload Afterload is the pressure that the heart must work against to eject blood during systole (ventricular contraction). Afterload is proportional to the average arterial pressure. As aortic and pulmonary pressures increase, the afterload increases on ...

and the contractility of the heart. __TOC__

Uses

End systolic volume can be used clinically as a measurement of the adequacy of cardiac emptying, related to systolic function. On an electrocardiogram, or

ECG Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the hear ...

, the end-systolic volume will be seen at the end of the T wave. Clinically, ESV can be measured using two-dimensional

echocardiography An echocardiography, echocardiogram, cardiac echo or simply an echo, is an ultrasound of the heart. It is a type of medical imaging of the heart, using standard ultrasound or Doppler ultrasound. Echocardiography has become routinely used in t ...

, MRI ( magnetic resonance tomography) or cardiac CT ( computed tomography) or SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography).

Sample values

Along with

end-diastolic volume In cardiovascular physiology, end-diastolic volume (EDV) is the volume of blood in the right or left ventricle at end of filling in diastole which is ammount of blood present in ventricle at the end of diastole systole. Because greater EDVs cause ...

, ESV determines the stroke volume, or output of blood by the heart during a single phase of the cardiac cycle. The

stroke volume In cardiovascular physiology, stroke volume (SV) is the volume of blood pumped from the left ventricle per beat. Stroke volume is calculated using measurements of ventricle volumes from an echocardiogram and subtracting the volume of the blood i ...

is the difference between the

and the end-systolic volume. The end-systolic values in the table below are for the left ventricle: The right ventricular end-systolic volume (RVESV) normally ranges between 50 and 100 mL.

References

Cardiovascular physiology {{circulatory-stub