Figure 1From: Using heart-lung interactions to assess fluid responsiveness during mechanical ventilationSchematic representation of Frank-Starling relationship between ventricular preload and stroke volume. A given change in preload induces a larger change in stroke volume when the ventricle operates on the ascending portion of the relationship (A, condition of preload dependence) than when it operates on the flat portion of the curve (B, condition of preload independence).Back to article page