Blood pressure Flashcards
What are medical indications to measure blood pressure?
- routine screening in geriatric cats
- when clinical signs of hypertension are noted (target organ damage)
- when a disease is present that causes hypertension
- critical care monitoring esp anesthesia
What are the two categories of high blood pressure?
secondary to disease (e.g. renal disease)
2. primary (idiopathic) hypertension
What animals get primary hypertension
certain populations of cats
What are clinical signs of hypertension? (TOD)
- retinal lesions
- heart murmurs–heart must work harder, hypertrophy,deformation of valves etc
- neurologic signs–e.g. in cat random yowling etc
What are three diseases that can cause hypertension in cat?
renal disease
hyperthyroidism
adrenal masses
What is the hypertension risk of TOD based on blood pressure
- mild 150-159/95-99
- moderate 190-179/100-119
- severe >180/120
Why does hypertension affect the eye?
The retinal arteries are autoregulatory but that is ment to be short term. they stay constricted and downstream the vessels become compromized and leaky, may see tears and hemorrhage–starving parts of themselves basically.
The choroidal vessels do not do that but at certain level they can have a high enough pressure that they become leaky
What can hypertension lead to in the eye?
hypertensive retinopathy
hypertensive choroidopathy
hypertensive optic neuropathy
(lesions like tortuous vessels, bulloid? detachement, serous detachment of retina)
What effect does hypertension have on the CNS?
Above 150mmHg, autoregulatory mechanisms start to fail, start to see edema and hemorrhage and thus increase in intracranial pressure: behavior change, salivation, seizure, cranial nerve deficits, visual deficits, coma, abnormal vocalization, lead pressing etc
What happens to blood pressure when you have a brain tumor?
your blood pressure increases but usually bradycardic. Whereas in animals with high blood pressure rather than primary brain lesion the hear rate is usually normal
What happens to heart with hypertension?
systemic vascular constriction causes concentric hypertrophy. That means thicker heart muscle, less well perfused, more susceptible to catecholamines, ischemic injury. Can result in mumurs, gallops, arrythmias, increased R wave amplitude, left anterior fasicular block
What are differentials for a cat with a murmur?
- hypertension
- hyperthyroidism
- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
How do you test the cause of a cat with a murmur?
test thyroid levels
take blood pressure
what is age? young to middle age cats get hypertrophic cardiomyopathy so if older more likely to be hypertension.
What should you think if see undulating aorta in a cat?
may have hypertension. can also occur in normal cats?
What are diseases that cause hypertension?
- renal disease (CRF, glomerular disease-addisons in cat, glomerulonephritis in dog)
- endocrine disease–hyperthyroidism (cushings, diabetes mild), pheochromocytoma