Amount Returning.... So Vital Indeed!

Abstract

Ernest Henry Starling ( 1866-1927), British physiologist whose prolific contributions to a modern understanding of body functions, especially the maintenance of fluid balance throughout the tissues, the regulatory role of endocrine secretions, and mechanical controls on heart function, made him one of the foremost scientists of his time. Starling developed an isolated heart-lung preparation that enabled him formulate (1918) his "law of the heart". This law states that, “The energy of contraction of a cardiac muscle fibre like that of a skeletal muscle fibre is proportional to the initial fibre length at rest ." Thus the force of muscular contraction of the heart is directly proportional to the extent to which the muscle is stretched; the latter is in turn dependent on the venous return. [ Pralikar S NJIRM 2014; 5(4) :135]