Frank Starling's law of the heart refers to a length-tension
relationship of cardiac muscle cells. As ventricles fill with
blood, the extra blood causes a stretch of the muscle cells known
as end diastolic volume. The greater the stretch, within limits,
the greater the contractile force, and therefore the greater the
ability to eject blood from the ventricles (end systolic volume) to
the great vessels, pulmonary trunk or aorta.