systemic vascular resistance

A measure of how tight or relaxed the body's small arteries are. When they narrow, resistance goes up and the heart works harder (more afterload); when they widen, resistance goes down. It is calculated from blood pressure and cardiac outputcardiac outputKAR-dee-ak OWT-putThe amount of blood the heart pumps out in one minute.Full entry Close in intensive care. Normal is about 800 to 1,200 dynes·sec/cm⁻⁵. Narrowed vessels raise it, as in shock from blood loss; widened vessels lower it, as in septic shockseptic shockSEP-tik shokThe most severe stage of sepsis, in which the circulation fails and blood pressure stays low even after IV fluids.sept/o infection-ic relating toFull entry Close.