Fig. 1

Schematic presentation of ventricular-arterial coupling on the pressure-volume plane. The solid line represents the changes of the pressure-volume relationship, arterial elastance (Ea), and left ventricular end-systolic elastance (Ees) in sepsis, while the dashed lines show the baseline of them. Ea, arterial elastance; Ees, left ventricular end-systolic elastance; ESP, end-systolic pressure; SV, stroke volume; ESV, end-systolic volume; V0, volume intercept of ventricular end-systolic pressure-volume relationship (hypothetical unstressed volume of left ventricle); EDP, end-diastolic pressure; EDV, end-diastolic volume