Cardiovascular Flashcards
What are the clinical features of right sided heart failure?
Hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, peripheral oedema, pleural effusion
What is the Frank-Starling mechanism?
For cardiac muscle, the Frank-Starling Law states that the contractile force of a cardiac muscle fibre is proportional to the initial fibre length.
Does the Frank-Starling mechanism apply to skeletal muscle?
Yes, but cardiac muscle is more sensitive to stretch
Is the Frank-Starling mechanism a linear relationship?
No. As the tension reaches a maximum, the tension will decline despite further increases in fibre length.
What is Bacillary angiomatosis?
a vascular proliferation in immunocompromised hosts caused by an opportunistic infection with gram negative bacteria of the Bartonella species exclusively (Bartonella henselae and Bartonella quintana)
What are the pathological changes associated with reversible myocardial ischaemia?
myofibril relaxation, mitochondrial swelling and glycogen depletion
What is Beck’s triad?
Triad of clinical features seen in cardiac tamponade: muffled heart sounds, jugular venous distention, hypotension. Other signs include pulsus paradoxus and pericardial knock
What is Trousseau syndrome?
migratory thrombophlebitis is evanescent thromboses in different vascular beds at different times due to a hypercoagulable state
What is Takayasu arteritis?
granulomatous vasculitis affecting large- and medium-sized vessels, most commonly in the arch of the aorta. Severe narrowing of the arch vessels leads to the classic finding of weak or absent upper limb pulses.
What are the differences between adult and neonate fluid components?
20% of an adult’s total body weight is extracellular fluid, this rises to 30-45% for neonates. In some premature babies, extracellular fluid can exceed intracellular fluid.
Overall, neonates have proportionately higher total body water (80%) compared to adults (60%), and a lower proportion of fat.
What are the potential complications of the macrophage phase following an MI?
Macrophage phase occurs during days 4-7.
Complications include: ventricular wall rupture, intraventricular wall rupture, papillary muscle rupture.
What is Dressler’s syndrome?
Pericarditis secondary to MI
When is fibrous pericarditis a risk post MI?
1-3 days post MI during the acute inflammation phase.
How long does it take for irreversible myocardial injury to first develop following myocardial ischaemia?
20-40 minutes
What are the pathological features of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?
Haphazard myocyte and myofiber disarray, marked myocyte hypertrophy, and interstitial fibrosis are characteristic histological findings
