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ventricular filling pressure

The pressure in the ventricle as it fills with blood, ordinarily equivalent to the mean atrial pressure when there is no a-V valvular gradient. Atrial pressure can be used in place of transmural pressure because pericardial pressure usually varies between -2 and _2 mm hg and hence is negligible. During cardiac tamponade, pericardial and atrial pressures equilibrate so that transmural pressure is zero and the high atrial presures cannot be filling pressures.