Assessment of CP Flashcards
What are the common etiologies of CP?
Angina MI Pericarditis Dissection Aortic Aneurysm Pleuritic pain Radiating pain from other causes
What is the first step in assessing chest pain?
Quantify the pain
If you have a patient with a tearing, shearing pain radiating to the back, what should you think of immediately?
Aortic dissection! Until proven otherwise
What type of chest pain is typically sharp, stabbing, unilateral, and made worse with a deep breath?
Pleuritic pain
What is pleuritic pain associated with?
Fever, cough, SOB, infectious process like pneumonia
What causes the chest pain of angina?
Due to ischemia of the heart muscle - usually spasm of coronary arteries
If your patient presents with chest tightness or constricting pain, and says they have an “elephant sitting on their chest” what should you think?
Angina
Who might have atypical presentations of angina?
Women and diabetics
Dull Tight Pressing Squeezing Burning Heaviness Band across the chest Weight in center of chest
Angina symptoms
What are some associated symptoms of angina?
Dyspnea, radiation, pain during exertion that abates with rest, exacerbating factors like cold, heavy meals and emotion
What are the some relieving factors for angina?
Rest and nitrates
If your patient is having new onset chest pain that occurs with minimal exertion and does not get better with rest that is increasing in intensity, what type of angina do they have?
Unstable!
Unstable angina is associated with??
Ruptured plaques and thrombi, causing obstruction
Stable angina is associated with?
Chronic stable coronary stenosis
What provokes chronic stable angina?
Exertion
What are the angina equivalents that a patient may have that could clue you in to CVD or an MI?
Dyspnea, indigestion, weakness, malaise
Who is more likely to present with angina equivalents?
Women
What condition would give a patient tearing pain that lasts for hours and gets worse with changing body positions and breathing?
Pericarditis
Which disorders put a patient at risk for pericarditis?
Lupus, RA, kidney failure, cancer, trauma
What will relieve the pain of pericarditis? What makes it worse?
Leaning forward
Laying down
What is important during your exam to identify pericarditis?
History of recent illness
Friction rub on auscultation
What type of imaging should you use to distinguish pericarditis from and MI?
ECHO
Can mimic MI on ECG
What is Beck’s triad?
Helps identify cardiac tamponade
Low BP
Distended neck veins
Muffled heart sounds
What is a complication of pericarditis that results from the buildup up pressure from fluid in the pericardial sac that restricts the blood returning to the heart?
Cardiac tamponade
How do you know if someone is having an aortic dissection?
BP is different on left and right side
What could an aortic dissection be confused with?
MI, esophagitis, or pericarditis