Word parts
What it means
How well blood reaches and moves through an organ or tissue. Good perfusion depends on the heart pumping, enough blood volume and open blood vessels. Nurses check it by skin color and temperature, capillary refill, pulses, urine output and level of consciousness. When perfusion falls, tissues start to suffer from lack of oxygen.
For the nurse
Compare pulses, color, warmth and capillary refill on both sides, and report a cool, pale or bluish limb, weak or absent pulses, a capillary refill over 3 seconds or falling urine output. Do not mix it up with profusion, which means plenty.
In a chart
"Left foot cool and pale, pedal pulse absent by Doppler; vascular surgery notified."
Remember it
Perfusion is blood pouring through.
At a glance
| Spanish | perfusión |
|---|---|
| Also written | perfused, perfusing |
Easy to confuse with
profusion
A large amount of something; plenty.
Related terms
oxygenation
The process of getting oxygen into the blood and delivering it to the body's tissues.
capillary
One of the tiniest blood vessels, joining the smallest arteries to the smallest veins.
cardiac output
The amount of blood the heart pumps out in one minute.
ischemia
Too little blood flow to a part of the body, so the tissue does not get enough oxygen.