2 LOBS Flashcards
Explain the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure – link into physical exam findings.
Develop a differential diagnosis for dyspnoea.
- pneumonia,
- asthma and
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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How does cardiac failure effect the function and release of hormones? (This can be
related to the rationale for medication for CHF)
bnp
Name 4 common heart murmurs
Aortic stenosis
Pulmonary stenosis
Tricuspid regurgitation
Mitral stenosis/regurgitation
explain the anatomy and basic
pathophysiology of Aortic stenosis
this is a type of heart valve disease (valvular heart disease). The valve between the lower left heart chamber and the body’s main artery (aorta) is narrowed and doesn’t open fully. This reduces or blocks blood flow from the heart to the aorta and to the rest of the body.
explain the anatomy and basic
pathophysiology of Pulmonary stenosis
this is a narrowing of the valve located between the lower right heart chamber (right ventricle) and the lung arteries (pulmonary arteries). In a narrowed heart valve, the valve flaps (cusps) may become thick or stiff. This reduces blood flow through the valve
explain the anatomy and basic
pathophysiology of Tricuspid
regurgitation
this occurs when the valve’s flaps (cusps or leaflets) do not close properly. Blood can leak backward into the atrium from the leaky tricuspid valve, causing your heart to pump harder to move blood through the valve.
explain the anatomy and basic
pathophysiology of Mitral stenosis/regurgitation
this occurs when the mitral valve in your heart narrows, restricting blood flow into the main pumping chamber. Your mitral valve may also leak, causing blood to flow back through the valve each time the left ventricle contracts.
Explain the CXR findings for congestive heart failure.
- Alveolar oedema (perihilar/bat-wing opacification)
- Kerley B lines (interstitial oedema)
- Cardiomegaly (cardiothoracic ratio >50%)
- Dilated upper lobe vessels
- Effusions (e.g. pleural effusions – blunted costophrenic angles)
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relevant bedside investigations of acute heart failure. (include side effects + contraindications.)
- Vital signs: may show hypoxia (often SpO2 < 90%), tachycardia, and tachypnoea. The systolic blood pressure may be normal, elevated, or reduced (hypotension is associated with cardiogenic shock and poor prognosis). The pulse pressure may be narrow (<25% of the sBP).
- ECG: the ECG is rarely normal. Abnormalities (e.g. signs of ischaemia or arrhythmias) are very common in AHF and an alternative diagnosis should be considered if the ECG is completely normal.
pharamacological
management of acute heart failure
(include side effects + contraindications.)
- oxygen
- loop diurectics
- nitrates
- Non-invasive ventilation (NIV)
- Cardiogenic shock
When is a loop diuretic considered in the management of heart failure?
- All ‘WET’ patients will require diuretics as the cornerstone of their management.
- Patients with chronic kidney disease and those already on oral diuretics will need a greater dose.
Understand the impact of a cardiovascular diagnosis on a family, and the future implications for the family
Understand the mechanism of action, side effects and contraindications for loop and potassium-sparing diuretics.
What are idiopathic and iatrogenic?
Idiopathic disease: any disease which is of uncertain or unknown origin, arising spontaneously.
Examples: acute idiopathic polyneuritis, diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, idiopathic scoliosis.
Iatrogenic disease: disease induced by drug/s prescribed by a physician and/or diagnostic or therapeutic procedures undertaken on a patient. With the multitude of drugs prescribed to a single patient adverse drug reactions are bound to occur.
Define dyspnoea
difficult or laboured breathing.
Differentials diagnosis for dyspnoea
- Asthma
- COPD
- Heart failure
- Pneumonia
- mental disorders
- lung cancer
- cystic fibrosis
What causes pallor?
Pallor- paleness. Caused by reduced blood flow and oxygen or by a decreased number of red blood cells. Can be a symptom of serious medical conditions such as anaemia, bloodstream infection, frostbite, leukaemia, low BP
What is paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea (PND)?
Sensation of shortness of breath that awakens a patient after 1-2 hours of sleep, usually relieved in the upright position. Caused by failure of left ventricle.
What is orthopnoea?
Sensation of breathlessness whilst lying down, relieved by sitting or standing. Usually occurs when heart isn’t strong enough to pump out all the blood sent from the lungs. Heart failure, build-up of fluid in lungs.
What is jugular venous pressure and what happens if it is distended?
Jugular venous pressure provides an indirect measure of central venous pressure. Jugular vein distention is the bulging of the major veins in the neck. Increased pressure of the superior vena cava causes the jugular vein to bulge. Key symptom of heart failure and other circulatory problems
What is the mechanism for ventricular hypertrophy?
Left ventricular hypertrophy is induced by an increased filling pressure of the left ventricle, otherwise known as diastolic overload. This condition is caused by changes in genes that cause the heart muscle to thicken. The thickening makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. It can occur even without high blood pressure.
Describe the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure
Heart failure develops when there are changes to the structure of the heart muscle and it can’t pump blood as efficiently as it should. When this happens blood can back up and fluid may build up in the lungs or arms and legs, indicating congestive heart failure.
what does the FBC indicate?
Full blood count. This is a test to check the types and numbers of cells in your blood, including red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets.
What does high BNP indicate?
Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP)- hormone secreted by cardiomyocytes in the heart ventricles in response to stretching caused by increased ventricular blood volume.
BNP levels go up when the heart cannot pump the way it should. A result greater than 100 pg/mL is abnormal. The higher the number, the more likely heart failure is present and the more severe it is.
chest x-ray interpretation A to E
The ABCDE approach can be used to carry out a structured interpretation of a chest X-ray:
Airway: trachea, carina, bronchi and hilar structures.
Breathing: lungs and pleura.
Cardiac: heart size and borders.
Diaphragm: including assessment of costophrenic angles.
Everything else: mediastinal contours, bones, soft tissues, tubes, valves, pacemakers and review areas.
What is interstitial oedema?
Caused by accumulation of fluid in the extracellular spaces of the tissue
Understand the relationship between sodium levels and oedema
High quantities of sodium consumption can lead to an electrolyte imbalance, causing hypertension or oedema. Oedema, known as water retention, occurs when you consume large amounts of sodium relative to your water intake.
When are chest drains a suitable management?
You need a chest drain if you have an air leak (pneumothorax), a collection of fluid (pleural effusion), pus (empyema) or blood (haemothorax) in the pleural space. Any of these can cause problems with breathing and can stop the lungs from working properly.
Why are loop diuretics used in heart failure?
Due to their greater effectiveness, loop diuretics, such as furosemide, are the mainstay of diuretic therapy in HF. Loop diuretics produce more intense and shorter diuresis than thiazides, which results in more gentle and prolonged diuresis
Loop- fast acting
Thiazide diurectics - - gentle and more prolonged
What are the common heart murmurs and the pathophysiology of each of them?
Aortic stenosis, mitral regurgitation, aortic regurgitation, mitral stenosis, mitral valve prolapses, tricuspid regurgitation, pulmonary stenosis, pulmonary regurgitation, tricuspid stenosis,
(incomplete)
What is LVEF and the normal range?
LVEF is the fraction of chamber volume ejected in systole (stroke volume) in relation to the volume of the blood in the ventricle at the end of diastole (end-diastolic volume).
The left ventricle is the heart’s main pumping chamber. It pumps oxygen-rich blood up into your body’s main artery (aorta) to the rest of the body.
A normal ejection fraction is about 50% to 75%.
A borderline ejection fraction can range between 41% and 50%.
What is spironolactone and how does it work?
Diuretic to treat oedema, high BP, hormone conditions. Spironolactone is also used to lessen the need for hospitalisation for heart failure.
Unlike other types of diuretic, spironolactone does not make your body lose potassium.
It works by stopping aldosterone (a hormone made by the adrenal glands) from working in a part of the kidneys called the distal tubules.
What is available in the community for cardiac rehab?
Cardiac rehabilitation often involves
- exercise training
- emotional support
- education about lifestyle changes to reduce your heart disease risk, such as eating a heart-healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight and quitting smoking.
Define heart failure
It is a complex syndrome in which the ability of the heart to maintain the circulation of blood is impaired as a result of structural or functional impairment of ventricular filling or ejection
In other words:
When the heart is unable to circulate blood around the body as a result of impairment of ventricular filling or ejection
Name the different types of heart failure
- Acute versus chronic
- Right-sided versus left-sided
- Systolic (HFrEF) versus diastolic (HFpEF)
- High output versus low output
Describe the risk factors and causes of heart failure
- coronary heart disease (myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, heart block)
- hypertension.
- smoking,
- excess alcohol intake and
- recreational drug use
Describe the classification used for heart failure
Time-course of heart failure
Acute vs Chronic
When the Ejection fraction
LVEF ≤ 35-40%
Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HF-REF)
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HF-PEF)
Symptomatic severity
Describe the symptoms of heart failure
CHF:
- Dyspnoea on exertion
- Fatigue limiting exercise tolerance
- Orthopnoea: the patient may be using several pillows to reduce this symptom.
- Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea (PND): attacks of severe shortness of breath in the night that are relieved by sitting up (pathognomonic for CHF).
- Nocturnal cough with or without the characteristic ‘pink frothy sputum’.
- Pre-syncope/syncope
- Reduced appetite
- shortness of breath
- ankle swelling.
Explain how to diagnose heart failure
investigations required for diagnosis include ECG, NT-proBNP and echocardiography
Causes of new-onset AHF include:
Acute myocardial dysfunction (e.g. ischaemia due to myocardial infarction)
Acute valve dysfunction
Arrhythmias
Describe the management of heart failure and recognise some of the common medications used to treat heart failure
Management involves a combination of lifestyle modification, pharmacological therapies and in some cases surgical intervention.
pharmacological therapies include:
- Diuretics
- ACE inhibitors
- Beta-blockers eg. bisoprolol
- Angiotensin-II receptor antagonists (ARBs) eg. candesartan
- Mineralocorticoid/aldosterone receptor antagonists (MRAs) eg. spironolactone or eplerenone
- Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors eg. dapagliflozin
lifestyle modification:
- Fluid and salt restriction
- Regular exercise
- Smoking cessation
- Reduced alcohol intake
What is chronic HF
(CHF) is a clinical syndrome involving reduced cardiac output because of impaired cardiac contraction.
What is acute HF
rapid onset or worsening of the signs and symptoms of heart failure.
causes of heart failure
- coronary heart disease (myocardial infarction), - atrial fibrillation,
- valvular heart disease,
- hypertension.
Other causes of heart failure include:
- Endocrine disease: hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, adrenal insufficiency, Cushing’s syndrome
Medications:
- calcium antagonists,
- anti-arrhythmics,
- cytotoxic medication,
- beta-blockers.
symptoms of Chronic HF
shortness of breath, fatigue and ankle swelling.
causes of HF
HIGH-VIS
- Hypertension (common cause)
- Infection/immune: viral (e.g. HIV), bacterial (e.g. sepsis), autoimmune (e.g. lupus, rheumatoid arthritis)
- Genetic: hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM)
- Heart attack: ischaemic heart disease (common cause)
- Volume overload: renal failure, nephrotic syndrome, hepatic failure
- Infiltration: sarcoidosis, amyloidosis, hemochromatosis
- Structural: valvular heart disease, septal defects