Cardiovascular Flashcards
Atherosclerosis mainly affects which blood vessels?
The large and medium-sized blood vessels
What is malignant hypertension?
A rapidly progressive hypertension where diastolic pressure is in excess of 120 mmHg, which can result in encephalopathy (damage to the brain), cerebral oedema and loss of consciousness. It is a medical emergency and untreated can lead to death of the individual.
What are the signs and symptoms of myocardial infarction?
- Central chest pain that radiates down the left arm and also to the lower jaw, neck, back and right arm.
- Rapid irregular pulse, hypotension and shortness of breath.
- Diaphoresis (excessive sweating), nausea, vomiting, palpitations, loss of consciousness and even sudden death.
- Signs of shock.
- Cyanosis.
What are the symptoms of left side heart failure?
Backward effects- pulmonary oedema, diminished external respiration, productive cough,
Forward effects- reduced cellular respiration, resulting in dizziness, fatigue, and weakness. Reduced circulation to organs resulting in oliguria (reduced urine output).
What are the signs and symptoms of right side heart failure?
Backward effects-
- Peripheral oedema (pitting oedema),
- Enlargement of the organs such as the liver (hepatomegaly) and the spleen (splenomegaly), which can put pressure on the surrounding organs.
- Jaundice and coagulation problems may be present due to liver damage
- Distended jugular vein.
- Difficulty breathing due to ascites (abnormal build-up of fluid in the peritoneal cavity- in excess of 25ml)
Forward effects-
pleural effusion
What can cause lactic acidosis (a type of metabolic acidosis)?
During cardiogenic shock, peripheral cells are deprived of oxygen. Unable to perform aerobic respiration they supply their energy requirements by anaerobic respiration, which is less efficient and produces lactic acid as a by-product. Lactic acid releases a proton to become its conjugate base lactate and bringing about acidosis.
What is diaphoresis?
Excessive sweating
Acute coronary syndrome includes which three conditions?
Unstable angina, Non-ST elevated myocardial infarction, ST elevated myocardial infarction.
Where are leads placed when conducting a three lead ECG?
In a three-lead cardiac monitor, the red lead is placed just underneath the patient’s right clavicle, not over the bone. The yellow lead is placed just under the patient’s left clavicle. Both leads are placed near the adjacent shoulder and on the rib cage. The green lead is placed much lower down, on the bottom of the rib cage on the patient’s left side.
What is a ventricular ectopic?
A ventricular ectopic is a pathological heartbeat whose electrical impulse originates in the ventricles, as opposed to the normal origin of the sinoatrial node in the right atrium. Since ventricular ectopics do not start in the right atrium they are not preceded by a p-wave.
Describe third-degree (total) heart block.
In third-degree heart block, there is a total failure of the electrical conduction between the sinoatrial (SA) node and the atrioventricular (AV) node. While a person with third-degree heart block may have clear p waves and QRST waves on an ECG, their timing will not be synchronised and their rates will be different. In third-degree heart block, the QRS wave is an example of a ventricular ectopic.
A first-degree heart block is a slowing of the electrical conduction between atria and the ventricles, resulting in a PR interval (the gap between the p-wave and QRS-wave) of greater than how many seconds?
Greater than 0.2 seconds.
Right bundle branch block results in slower conduction and a wider QRS complex, lasting longer than how many seconds?
longer than 0.12 seconds or 3 small squares on normal ECG paper.
Sinus rhythm could be described as?
A normal heart rhythm.
Describe a supraventricular tachycardia.
A supraventricular tachycardia originates above (supra) the ventricles, in the atria. In this sense it is a normal sinus rhythm, however it is fast in neonates a SVT can exceed 240 bpm.
