Developed by Adolf Eugen Fick (1829 - 1901), the Fick principle has been applied to the measurement of cardiac output. Its underlying principles may also be applied in a variety of clinical situations.
The essence of the Fick principle is that blood flow to an organ can be calculated using a marker substance if the following information is known:
- Amount of marker substance taken up by the organ per unit time
- Concentration of marker substance in arterial blood supplying the organ
- Concentration of marker substance in venous blood leaving the organ
In Fick's original method, the "organ" was the entire human body and the marker substance was oxygen.
The principle may be applied in different ways. For example, if the blood flow to an organ is known, together with the arterial and venous concentrations of the marker substance, the uptake of marker substance by the organ may then be calculated.
Read more about Fick Principle: Variables, Equation, Assumed Fick Determination, Underlying Principles, Use in Renal Physiology
Famous quotes containing the word principle:
“To invent without scruple a new principle to every new phenomenon, instead of adapting it to the old; to overload our hypothesis with a variety of this kind, are certain proofs that none of these principles is the just one, and that we only desire, by a number of falsehoods, to cover our ignorance of the truth.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)