1 - Introduction to CVS Flashcards
Where is the heart located?
- Middle mediastinum (area in thoracic cavity between right anf left pleural sacs)
- Lies within the pericardium
- Phrenic nerve on side of pericardium
What does the pericardium consist of?
- Strong outer fibrous layer
- Inner serous membrane made of two layers
What is the oblique sinus?
Space under the heart that is a blind end, swabs can get lost in there during surgery, posterior to left atrium
What is the transverse sinus?
Allows surgeon to cut off heart by isolating aorta and pulmonary trunk
Label this diagram of the heart
Label this posterior view of the heart
Name the valves of the heart and their structure
- Pulmonary and Aortic Valve
- Mitral valve (left)
- Tricuspid valve (right)
Only bicuspid valve is the mitral valve
What is diastole and systole?
Diastole = ventricles relaxed so AV valves open
Systole = ventricles contract so SL valves open
What is the aortic sinus?
First arteries to arise from the aorta, the coronary arteries
Label these coronary veins
Where are the renal and testicular veins?
Label all of the arteries with a dot next to them
Why do patients with stab wounds to the heart have tachycardia, low b.p and distended neck veins?
Veins are distended as the jugular is carrying more blood than the heart can pump out. Low blood pressure due to low cardiac output as some blood leaking from the heart
What can cause pericardial effusion?
- Pericarditis (viral/bacterial infeciton)
- Autoimmune diseases
- Stab wounds
- Kidney failure
- Injury
How do you treat pericardial effusion?
Aspiration technique called pericardiocentesis
What is the blood flow to the brain?
750ml/min
What are the borders of the heart?
Why might the heart shadow become enlarged?
- Ventricular hypertrophy
- Pericardial effusion
- Dilated left ventricle
Where would you feel for the apex beat if the heart is normal?
- 5th intercostal space at the midclavicular line
What are the sequence of changes that occur in the arterial wall to case an arterial occlusion?
- Atheroma plaque
- Plaque ruptures
- Thrombus forms
- Embolism
(stroke in cerebral artery, MI in coronary artery)
What are the typical symptoms of an MI?
- Central crushing chest pain which may radiate to arm, neck or jaw
- Breathlessness
What is the function of the chordae tendinae?
Remain taut when the ventricles contract to prevent prolapse of the valve
What would you hear in a leaky mitral valve?
Systolic murmur due to regurgitation of blood
What would you hear in mitral valve-stenosis?
- Mid diastolic murmur
- Diastole turbulent blood flow
What is cardiac tamponade and how is it treated?
- Compression of the heart leading to a fall in arterial blood pressure as ventricles cannot fill in diastole
- Pericardiocentesis where a fine needle is placed in pericardium to aspirate fluid
What would happen if a large ventricular septal defect was left untreated?
- Vascular remodelling and increased pulmonary resistance leading to Eisenmenger syndrome
