Cardiovascualr System 2 Flashcards
What is stenosis
Failure of a valve to open completely
This impedes the forward flow of blood
What is incompetent regurgitation
Failure of the valve to close completely
Allows the reverse flow of blood
What can valvular heart disease affect
Pure or mixed regurg or stenosis
Single or multiple valves
What is functional regurgitation
Valve becomes incompetent due to dilation of a ventricle
What does the clinical consequences of valvular heart disease depend on
Which valve
Degree of impairment
Rate of it’s development
Rate and quality of compensatory mechanisms
Can go from being physiologically unimportant to severe and rapidly fatal
What causes valvular incompetence
Intrinsic disease of the valve cusps or damage to or distortion of the supporting structures Aorta Mitral valve annulus Tendinous cords Papillary muscle Ventricular free wall \+/- underlying valve abnormality ACUTE OR CHRONIC
Valvular stenosis
Acute or chronic
Is the valve abnormal in this
Usually chronic
Almost always has an underlying valve abnormality
Where can valvular calcification occur
Calcific aortic stenosis
Calcification of a congenitally bicuspid aortic valve
Mitral annular calcification
What are heart valves subjected to
High repetitive mechanical stress especially at hinge points of cusp/leaflet
40 million cycles a year
Substantial tissue deformation
Transvalvular pressure gradients - aortic 120mmHg mitral 80mmHg
Cumulative damage is complicated by dystrophic calcification
Causes and epidemiology of calcific aortic stenosis
Age related wear and tear calcification
Clinically apparent 70-80 yo
Calcification of bicuspid valve occurs earlier
Most common cause of mitral stenosis
Rheumatic heart disease
Most common cause of mitral incompetence
Floppy mitral valve
Myxomatous degeneration
Mitral valve prolapse
Most common cause of aortic stenosis
Calcification of normal and congenitally bicuspid aortic valves
Most common cause of aortic incompetence
Dilation of ascending aorta related to hypertension and age
Mitral regurgitation facts
Most common form of valvular heart disease in the industrialised world
One or both mitral leaflets enlarged, hooded, redundant so prolapsed back into atrium during systole
Usually incidental finding on examination - mitral valve prolapse
Very rarely - sudden death
What is rheumatic fever
Acute immunologically mediated multisystem inflammatory disease
Occurs a few weeks after group A beta haemolytic streptococcal pharyngitis
Thought to be a hypersensitivity reaction induced by group A streptococci
Features:
Migratory polyarthritis of large joints
Carditis
Subcutaneous nodules
Skin rash
Syndenham chorea - neurological disorder (purposeless movements)
What is rheumatic heart disease
Acute leads to pancarditis Endocardium --> vegetations Myocardium --> Aschoff bodies Pericardium --> pericarditis Reactivation with subsequent pharyngeal infections --> cumulative damage
What is the most important complication of rheumatic fever
Chronic rheumatic heart disease
Characterised by
Deforming fibrotic valvular disease esp mitral stenosis
Fish mouth/button hole stenosis
Leaflet thickening, commissural fusion and shortening, thickening and fusion of chordea tendinea
Can cause permanent dysfunction
Most frequent cause of mitral stenosis
End stage of organisation of acute inflammatory damage
What is infective endocarditis
Serious infection
Colonisation/ invasion of the heart valves
Formation of friable bulky vegetations - composed of thrombotic debris and organisms
Often underlying tissue destruction
Most cases are BACTERIAL
Infective endocarditis types
Acute and subacute.
Characteristics of acute infective endocarditis
High virulence Valve previously normal Acute onset 50% mortality days to weeks Lesion is necrotising, ulcerative and invasive
Characteristics of subacute infective endocarditis
Low virulence
Insidious onset
Most recover weeks to months
Less destructive
What causes a predisposition to infective endocarditis
Abnormal valve - Floppy mitral valve Degenerative calcific valvular stenosis Bicuspid aortic valve Artificial valve (Vascular graft) Host factors - Immunosuppression - neutropenia, immunodeficiency, therapeutic
Diabetes
Alcohol
IV drug use
What are the organisms involved in infective endocarditis
Alpha-haemolytic strep - abnormal valve 50-60%, subacute
Staph aureus (skin) high virulence, normal valve, IV drug users
Mouth commensals - most of rest
Staph epidermidis - prosthetic valves
How does the person get infected
Dental or surgical procedure
Dirty needle
Trivial injury
What should be done for those at risk
Prophylactic antibiotics
Morphology of infective endocarditis
Aortic and mitral valve most commonly affected
Tricuspid valve in IV drug users
Bulky friable vegetation
May involve more this one valve
Complications of infective endocarditis
Myocardial abscess Valve rupture/perforation Systemic emboli- L sided body -kidney R sided - lungs Septic emboli Immune complexes