Wiggers diagram
standard diagram used in cardiac physiology named after Dr. Carl J. Wiggers
A Wiggers diagram, named after its developer, Carl Wiggers, is a unique diagram that has been used in teaching cardiac physiology for more than a century. In the Wiggers diagram, the X-axis is used to plot time subdivided into the cardiac phases, while the Y-axis typically contains the following on a single grid:
Blood pressure
Aortic pressure
Ventricular pressure
Atrial pressure
Ventricular volume
Electrocardiogram
Arterial flow (optional)
Heart sounds (optional)
The Wiggers diagram clearly illustrates the coordinated variation of these values as the heart beats, assisting one in understanding the entire cardiac cycle.
Events
Note that during isovolumetric/isovolumic contraction and relaxation, all the heart valves are closed; at no time are all the heart valves open. *S3 and S4 heart sounds are associated with pathologies and are not routinely heard.
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This entry incorporates text from “Wiggers diagram” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.