cardio Flashcards
Type of heart disease that develops when the arteries of the heart cannot deliver enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart
Coronary Heart Disease
Refers to variety of conditions that affect the heart’s structure and function
It is the leading cause of death in the United States
Heart Disease
1 cause of death in men & women in the U.S.
Heart Disease Statistics
Types of Heart disease
Coronary Artery Disease (Heart Disease) Heart Attack (Myocardial infarction) Arrhythmia (Irregular heartbeat) Sudden Cardiac Arrests Heart Valve Disease Heart failure (Congestive Heart Failure)
General symptoms of heart disease:
More specific symptoms are listed for the specific heart condition
In general, common symptoms include:
- Chest pain = Angina
- Breathlessness
- Heart palpitations
Symptoms specific to Heart Attack
- Similar to angina, but more severe or occur during rest
- Can resemble indigestion, heartburn, and a stomach ache
- Heavy feeling in the chest
Chest pain or discomfort that occurs if an area of your heart muscle doesn’t get enough oxygen-rich blood
May feel like pressure or squeezing in your chest
Pain also can occur in your shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back, may even feel like indigestion
angina
angina types
Types Stable Unstable Variant Microvascular
is a symptom of an underlying heart problem
may be a major warning sign
usually of coronary heart disease, but not a disease itself
angina
Most common type of angina
Occurs when the heart is working harder than usual
Has a regular pattern (referring to how often and severity)
stable angina
Doesn’t follow a pattern
May occur more often and be more severe than stable angina
Can occur with or without physical exertion, often when sleeping or resting, comes as a surprise
Rest or medicine may not relieve the pain
Very dangerous and requires emergency treatment
Is a sign that a heart attack may happen soon
unstable angina
rare and can be severe
spasm in a coronary artery causes this type of angina
usually occurs while sleeping at night
Medicine can relieve this type of angina
variant angina (Printzmetal’s)
can be more severe and last longer than other types
Medicine may not relieve this type of angina
microvascular angina
Often referred to as heart disease
Coronary Blood Supply
Coronary arteries supply the heart muscle with nutrients and oxygen by circulating blood.
Coronary arteries can become diseased or damaged
Damage may be related to atherosclerosis
hardening of the arteries
plaque builds up inside the arteries
May cause heart attacks, ischemic strokes, heart failures, arrhythmias, heart valve problems
coronary artery disease
Damage to the heart muscle
Due to lack of blood to the heart
Often occur as a result of coronary heart disease
Plaque can rupture, causing a blood clot to form
Large enough clot can completely block coronary artery
If not treated quickly, affected portion of heart muscle begins to die, and healthy heart tissue is replaced with scar tissue
heart attack (mechanical!)
Heart Attack Symptom Progression
Heart attacks can start slowly
Symptoms can be mild, or more intense and sudden
Symptoms may also come and go over several hours
Heart Attack Symptom: Men & Women
The most common symptom in both men and women, is chest pain or discomfort (angina)
In the center or left side of the chest
1/3rd who had heart attacks did not experience chest pain
these are more likely to be older, female, or diabetic
Upper body discomfort: one or both arms, back, shoulder, neck, jaw or upper part of stomach (above the belly button)
Shortness of breath
Breaking out in a cold sweat
Feeling unusually tired for no reason, sometimes for days
Nausea and vomiting
Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
***Women may likely have shortness of breath, nausea and vomiting, unusual tiredness, and pain
Other Heart Attack Symptoms
Upper body discomfort
Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, back, shoulder, neck, jaw or upper part of stomach (above the belly button)
Shortness of breath
Breaking out in a cold sweat
Feeling unusually tired for no reason, sometimes for days
Nausea and vomiting
Light-headedness or sudden dizziness
Chest pain or discomfort (angina) that doesn’t go away or changes from its usual pattern
Heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm
Typical heart rate (heartbeat) = 60 -100 times per minute
Can beat faster with exercise
Can slow down while sleep
Normal: slows down and speeds up
A heartbeat that is:
Too fast: tachycardia
Too slow: bradycardia
Sometimes heart is too slow and sometimes too fast: Tachycardia-bradycardia syndrome
Heart Arrhythmias
Symptoms: Feeling faint/tired Light-headed or passing out Shortness of breath Chest pain or discomfort Palpitations (skipped beats that feel like thumping, fluttering, racing heart) May have no symptoms
heart arrthymias
Causes of this Heart disease Infections or fever Physical/emotional stress Drugs and other stimulants (caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, amphetamines, etc.) Genes
heart arrythimias
impact of arrthymias
Can be serious or even life threatening
heart may not be able to pump enough blood to the body
atria to quiver instead of contract
Two types: Heart Arrhythmias
Ventricular: Starts from heart’s ventricles
Supraventricular: Starts outside or above the ventricles
- Atrial fibrillation
Heart Arrhythmias tests
EKG: Records the heart’s rhythm
Ultrasound: Picture of the heart’s structure and function
Treatment for Heart Arrhythmias
Cardiac ablation (heart tissue causing faulty heartbeat is removed) Cardioverter defibrillator (ICD): inserted in chest; resets the heart rhythm
Atrial Fibrillation (AF or AFib)
”Fibrillate“ definition = super fast HR!
AFiB can
Increase the risk of forming blood clots leading to strokes, or heart failure because of blood pools in the atrium
Cause chest pain or heart failure
Cardiac ablation
works by scarring or destroying tissue in your heart that triggers an abnormal heart rhythm
Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA)
Heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating
Is an electrical malfunction of the heart, disrupting the heart’s normal rhythm
If untreated, this abrupt loss of heart function results in sudden cardiac death
95% of people who have SCA die from it - most within minutes
SCA is not the same as a heart attack
Heart attack occurs if blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked
During a heart attack, the heart usually does not stop beating
However, SCA may occur after a heart attack
Symptoms of SCA
Symptoms:
Prior: Racing heartbeat, dizziness, or nothing
During: sudden collapse, loss of conscious, no pulse, no breathing
Heart conditions that can lead to SCA
CAD Enlarged heart Valvular heart disease Congenital heart disease Electrical
The most common heart rhythm at the time of cardiac arrest is an arrhythmia in a ventricle causing the ventricle to quiver instead of pumping blood
Risk Factors of SCA
illegal drugs such as cocaine, nutritional imbalance (low potassium), chronic apnea, chronic kidney disease
More common in males
Heart Valve Disease
Birth defects, age-related changes, infections, or other conditions cause one or more heart valves to not open fully or close; blood leaks back into the heart
Congenital heart valve disease: valves don’t form properly (not enough tissue flaps, wrong size/shape, may have an opening in which blood can get through)
Many people do not have any symptoms until middle-age or older
3 Types of heart valve disease problems:
Regurgitation (backflow) occurs if a valve doesn’t close tightly
Backflow is most often caused by prolapse (flap of the mitral valve flop or bulge back into an upper atrium)
Stenosis occurs if the flaps of a valve thicken, stiffen, or fuse together
Atresia occurs if a heart valve lacks an opening for blood to pass through
Heart Valve Disease Symptoms
The main sign of heart valve disease is a heart murmur (abnormal heart sound)
fatigue, SOB especially under exertion
swelling in your ankles (lower extrem) + neck
Congestive Heart Failure
fails to properly pump blood
Form of cardiovascular disease that results in the decreased ability of the heart to pump blood forward or the ability to fill the heart with blood in a cyclical manner
= organ damage
In addition, fluid will start to accumulate in the lungs, SOB = tissue damage
Heart failure can result from a heart attack, but also from chronic uncontrolled high blood pressure, or heart valve disease
Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms
Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
Blood “backs up” in the pulmonary veins because the heart can’t keep up, causes fluid to leak into the lungs
Persistent coughing or wheezing
Body edema
As blood flow out of the heart slows, returning blood in the veins backs up, causing fluid to build up in the tissues.
Tiredness, fatigue
Heart can’t pump enough blood to meet the needs of body tissues
Lack of appetite, nausea
Digestive system receives less blood, causing problems with digestion
Heart Disease Diagnostics
Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG)
measures electrical activity of the heartbeat. With each beat, an electrical “wave” travels through the heart.
A normal heartbeat on ECG will show the timing of the top and lower chambers
Holter Monitoring or Ambulatory ECG or Ambulatory EKG
Documents and describes abnormal electrical activity in the heart during daily activities to help doctors determine the condition of the heart.
Chest x-ray
Determines whether the heart is enlarged or if fluid is
Echocardiogram (echo)
Device placed on the chest that uses ultrasound to produce images of heart
images size, structure and motion
Helps gather information about arrhythmias
Cardiac tomography (CT or CAT scan)
Diagnostic-imaging tests to gather images of the heart.
creates three-dimensional (3-D) images that can show blockages caused by calcium deposits in coronary arteries
Exercise stress test
Treadmill test to monitor heart function while walking on a treadmill
Heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and how tired you become when exercising
Cardiac Catheterization known as
Cardiac Catheterization (Cath) is also known as Heart Cath, Angiogram (Angio) or Arteriogram
Coronary angioplasty or stents known as
percutaneous coronary intervention
Coronary angioplasty or stents
is a procedure used to open clogged heart arteries
by inserting and inflating a tiny balloon to the clogged artery to widen the artery
Often combined with the permanent placement of a small wire mesh tube (stent) to help prop the artery open and decrease the chance of it narrowing again.
Some stents are coated with medication to help keep the artery open
Can also be used during a heart attack to quickly open a blocked artery
Coronary Bypass Surgery
Coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG)
Open chest surgical procedure - one or more blocked coronary arteries are bypassed by a blood vessel graft
restores blood flow to the heart
goals of the procedure:
to relieve symptoms of coronary artery disease (including angina)
enable the patient to resume a normal lifestyle
to lower the risk of a heart attack or other heart problems
Types of bypass grafts
Internal mammary arteries
most common, best results
Radial (arm) artery
ulnar and radial arteries
Most people receive blood to their arm from the ulnar artery and will not have any side effects if the radial artery is used
Saphenous veins
Minimally invasive saphenous vein removal does not require a long incision. One to two incisions are made at the knee and a small incision is made at the groin
During CABG Surgery
During surgery, the heart-lung bypass machine (called “on-pump” surgery) takes over for the heart and lungs
allows blood flow
while heart’s beating is stopped so the bypass procedure can be performed
Or off-pump procedure (see notes)
Heart Valve Disease Treatment
valve repair or valve replacement
Valve repair preserves the patient’s valve and leaflets
Repair is most often possible for mitral or tricuspid valve regurgitation.
Congestive Heart Failure Treatment
Lifestyle measures
1st steps may include limits on the amount of fluids consumed (including alcohol)
and reductions in dietary sodium (less than 2,000 mg per day)
And regular exercise
Medications. Medications will depend on your specific condition (see notes)
