A client has been experiencing increasing fatigue in recent months, a trend that has prompted an echocardiogram. The results suggest that the client's end-diastolic volume is insufficient. Which parameter of cardiac performance will directly decrease as a result of this finding?

The more the heart muscle fibers are stretched, the harder the heart will squeeze. The heart can compensate for quite some time by squeezing harder. However, squeezing harder can cause the heart muscle to thicken over time.

An overly stretched heart muscle, known as dilated cardiomyopathy, can affect a person's end-diastolic volume. This condition is often the result of a heart attack.

Also another heart condition that changes end-diastolic volume is cardiac hypertrophy.