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The Lab

Terminology & sources

What are Wood units and dyn·s/cm⁵?

The resistance table displays both units.

Overview

One Wood unit equals 80 dyn·s/cm⁵. The summary displays resistance in both units, while the baseline PVR slider uses WU and the SVR slider uses dyn·s/cm⁵.

The program derives resistance from a pressure gradient divided by the appropriate flow. SVR uses systemic arterial minus RA mean pressure with systemic flow; PVR uses PA minus wedge mean pressure with pulmonary flow.

Resistance is undefined at zero flow. A shunt or bypass changes which flow belongs in the calculation. The optional Quiz calculations are not required to answer its interpretation questions.

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