The key difference between stroke volume and cardiac output is that stroke volume is the amount of blood pumped in each heartbeat while cardiac output is the amount of blood pumped by the heart per minute.
The heart is a muscular organ of our circulatory system, which pumps blood throughout our body. Thereby, it delivers oxygen and necessary nutrients for body tissues. It also collects deoxygenated blood from our body tissues and hands over to our lungs in order to purify them. When considering the heart functioning, there are three important measurements namely cardiac output, stroke volume, and heart rate. Cardiac output is the product of stroke volume and heart rate (cardiac output = stroke volume x heart rate). Hence, cardiac output refers to the total amount of blood pumped by the heart per one minute. On the other hand, stroke volume refers to the amount of blood pumped by each heartbeat. The aim of this article is to discuss the difference between stroke volume and cardiac output while explaining the individual terms.
