28th March 2019 - Session Synopsis Flashcards
What can chest pain be a result of?
Chest pain can be as a result of a number of cardiac and non-cardiac causes.
What may be required to determine the origin of chest pain?
Patient history, physical examination and investigations may be required to determine the origin of the pain.
What is crucial in ruling in or out certain causes of chest pain?
History-taking is crucial to ruling in or out certain causes.
What symptom do you need to investigate to make your differential diagnosis?
In this lecture you will look at the types of information regarding the pain that you need to find out to help you in narrowing down the causes.
What causes of chest pain will be considered?
The cardiac causes of chest pain that will be considered are pericarditis, myocardial ischaemia and myocardial infarction.
What is pericarditis, and what sort of pain is felt?
Pericarditis (inflammation of the pericardial sac) causes a pain that is usually sharp in nature, well-localised and worsens with movements such as coughing and lying flat.
What is the pericardium innervated by and what type of pain is experienced?
The pericardium is innervated by the phrenic nerve and the type of pain experienced is somatic pain.
How does pericarditis appear on an ECG?
In pericarditis there may be widespread ST elevation in all leads.
What pain is felt with ischaemia due to coronary artery disease?
Ischaemia due to coronary artery disease causes chest pain that is usually central but less well localised and may radiate to arms, neck or jaw.
What senses cardiac ischaemia?
Visceral afferent fibres of the heart respond to ischaemia.
Where do the visceral afferent fibres of the heart travel?
These fibres travel to the spinal cord with autonomic nerves.
What causes less well localised pain in cardiac ischaemia?
There is a mixing of visceral afferents in the spinal cord resulting in less well localised pain.
What causes coronary artery disease?
Coronary artery disease is due to the formation of atheromatous plaques in the coronary arteries.
What do atheromatous plaques in the coronary arteries do?
This causes narrowing of the arteries.
How are atheromatous plaques formed and what are the risk factors?
You should review the formation of atheromatous plaques and the risk factors in your Pathological Processes Unit (session 6).
What is stable angina?
Stable Angina is ischaemic pain which is experienced during exertion and resolves with rest.
What is the pathophysiology behind stable angina?
It occurs when the metabolic demands of the cardiac tissue exceeds the delivery of oxygen by the coronary arteries.
Explain what happens if a coronary artery is narrowed by 50%.
If stenosis narrows a coronary artery by 60% or less, this does not usually alter maximal blood flow to the region of heart supplied.
What happens if a coronary artery is narrowed by 70%?
With narrowing of around 70% blood flow at rest will be sufficient but maximal blood flow when demand is increased will be impaired.
What happens if a coronary artery is narrowed by 95%?
If narrowing exceeds around 90%, then blood flow at rest will be compromised.
What is ACS?
Acute coronary syndrome refers to a spectrum of acute ischaemic events from unstable angina through to non-ST elevated myocardial infarction and ST-elevated myocardial infarction.
What causes ACS?
In each case the acute event is caused by rupture of an atheromatous plaque and thrombus formation.
What pain is felt with unstable angina and does cell death occur?
In the case of unstable angina the pain occurs at rest, is of limited duration (but may last longer and be more intense than stable angina) and the duration of the ischaemia is not sufficient to cause cell death.
What causes both NSTEMI and STEMI?
Non ST-elevated myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) are again as a result of plaque rupture and thrombus formation.
What happens to the myocardium in both an NSTEMI and STEMI?
In these cases the blockage caused by the thrombus is sufficient to cause cell death in a region of myocardium.
How can myocardial cell death be detected?
Myocardial cell death can be detected from analysis of a blood sample for the cardiac isoforms of troponin-I (cTnI) or troponin -T (cTnT).
What do we measure cTnI or cTnT for?
These highly sensitive assays are useful diagnostic evidence of injury to cardiac myocytes.
What is a disadvantage to using troponin to measure myocardial infarction?
However you should be aware that troponins can be raised in conditions other than myocardial infarction.
How are both NSTEMI and STEMI distinguished?
NSTEMI and STEMI are distinguished by the ACUTE changes seen on the ECG recording.
How does an NSTEMI appear on an ECG?
NSTEMI is likely to show ST segment depression and / or T wave inversion in leads viewing that affected area.
How does a STEMI appear on an ECG?
STEMI shows elevation of the ST segment in leads viewing the affected area.
Why do NSTEMI and STEMI show different ECG changes?
ST elevation occurs when the full thickness of the myocardial wall is affected, whereas an NSTEMI is due to damage limited to the sub-endocardial tissue.
What are the ECG changes seen in
- pericarditis
- NSTEMI
- STEMI
You should refer back to your lecture on the ECG in week 7.
Why is time important in a STEMI?
The ECG changes during a STEMI evolve with time.
What happens to the ECG of a STEMI with time?
It is important that you are aware of the acute changes and the development of Q waves over time.
Describe the ECG changes in a STEMI.
The diagram below is from your recommended text book, Pathophysiology of Heart Disease by Leonard S Lilly.