How does the heart compensate for the effects of inflammation?

Question

How does the heart compensate for the effects of inflammation?

Answer 1

Your heart's goal in compensating for heart failure is to maintain your cardiac output. Cardiac output is the amount of blood your heart is able to pump in 1 minute. The problem in heart failure is that the heart isn't pumping out enough blood each time it beats (low stroke volume). To maintain your cardiac output, your heart can try to:

Beat faster (increase your heart rate).
Pump more blood with each beat (increase your stroke volume).