Flow resistance

Vascular resistance is the resistance that must be overcome to push blood through the circulatory system and create flow. The resistance offered by the systemic circulation is known as the systemic vascular resistance (SVR) or may sometimes be called by the older term total peripheral resistance (TPR), while the resistance offered by the pulmonary circulation is known as the pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). Systemic vascular resistance is used in calculations of blood pressure, blood flow, and cardiac function. Vasoconstriction (i.e., decrease in blood vessel diameter) increases SVR, whereas vasodilation (increase in diameter) decreases SVR.

Units for measuring vascular resistance are dyn·s·cm⁻⁵, pascal seconds per cubic metre (Pa·s/m³) or, for ease of deriving it by pressure (measured in mmHg) and cardiac output (measured in l/min), it can be given in mmHg·min/l. This is numerically equivalent to hybrid resistance units (HRU), also known as Wood units (in honor of Paul Wood, an early pioneer in the field), frequently used by pediatric cardiologists. The conversion between these units is:

$1\,{\frac {{\text{mmHG}}\cdot {\text{min}}}{\text{ L }}}({\text{HRUs}})=8\,{\frac {{\text{MPa}}\cdot {\text{s}}}{{\text{m}}^{3}}}=80\,{\frac {{\text{dyn}}\cdot {\text{sec}}}{{\text{cm}}^{5}}}$

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