Cardiovascular: Cardiovascular Physiology Flashcards
What are the modifiable risks of heart failure/disease?
- Hypertension
- Physical inactivity
- Smoking
- Lifestyle factors
- Cholesterol
- Diet and weight
- Stress
What are the unmodifiable risks of heart failure/disease?
- Age
- Race: Afro Caribbean are most at risk of heart disease
- Family history
What are the possible ways to prevent cardiovascular heart disease via lifestyle factors?
- Regular exercise: 30 minutes 5 days a week
- Balanced diet: 5 a day
- Giving up smoking
- Moderate alcohol
- Sleep
Define coronary heart disease?
Disease of the blood vessels that supply the heart
Define cerebrovascular disease?
Disease of the blood vessels that supply the brain which can lead to atherosclerosis or stroke
Define peripheral heart disease?
Disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs
Define Rheumatic heart disease?
Damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacterial infections
Define congenital heart disease?
Malformations of the heart that occurs at birth
Define what deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism is?
Blood clots in the leg vein which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs
Describe the progression of cardiovascular heart disease starting from normal arterial structure?
- Atherosclerosis: takes decades to build up and block blood vessels with fat
- Thrombosis: Plaques split and join together elsewhere
- Myocardial Infarction: normally heart attack
- Arrhythmia: abnormal heart beat
- Death
Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, describe what it can lead to?
- Risk factor for stroke and coronary heart disease
- Can lead to atherosclerosis through damaging of endothelial cells
- Damage to the kidneys
- Lead to left ventricular hypertrophy, pulmonary oedema and congestive heart failure
How can you tell you have hypertension, and when does it primarily occur?
- Asymptomatic a lot of the time
- Primarily occurs in men 35 to 50
- Happens to women normally after the menopause
- 1 in 3 African Caribbean People
What are the causes of secondary hypertension?
- Adrenal gland syndrom: hyperaldosterone (Crohn’s syndrome), Cushing’s syndrome (overproduction of corticosteroid hormones)
- Kidney diseases: polycystic disease, kidney tumour or failure
- Drugs: anti-inflammatory (prednisone), birth control pills (oestrogen), cold medicines (psuedoephedrine, phenylephrine)
- PREGNANCY
What are the four stages of hypertension?
- Prehypertensive (Not treated in UK)
- Stage 1 hypertension
- Stage 2 hypertension
- Severe hypertension (hospitalisation)
What is the treatment strategy for patients with hypertension who are under 55?
- (A) ACE inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) 18
- (A) + (C) Calcium channel blocker (CCB)19
- (A) + (C) + (D) Thiazide like diuretics
- Resistant hypertension: (A) + (C) + (D) and consider further diuretic therapy, alpha or beta blocker or expert advice
What is the treatment strategy for patients with hypertension who are afro Caribbean or over the age of 55?
- (C) Calcium channel blocker (CCB)19
- (C) + (A) ACE inhibitor or angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) 18
- (A) + (C) + (D) Thiazide like diuretics
- Resistant hypertension: (A) + (C) + (D) and consider further diuretic therapy, alpha or beta blocker or expert advice
How do you work out blood pressure?
Cardiovascular output (CO) x Total Peripheral Resistance (TPR)
What are the four factors of regulation of blood pressure?
- Blood volume
- Blood viscosity
- Cardiovascular output (CO)
- Total Peripheral Resistance (TPR)
Where is blood pressure usually measured in terms of resistance vessels? And what does this show?
- Where the largest pressure drop is and the transfer between arteries and arterioles into the veins
- Contractile force has a large impact on the blood pressure
Describe the process of how the body maintains normal blood pressure range after receiving a stimulus to increase blood pressure?
- Arterial blood pressures goes over the normal range
- Baroreceptors in the aortic arch and carotid sinuses stimulate
- Impulse travels along afferent nerves from the baroreceptors
- Stimulate cardio-inhibitory centre
- Leads to sympathetic impulses decreasing and decrease in heart rate/ contractility
- Rate of vasomotor impulses allow vasodilation which increases diameter
- Leads to decrease in cardiac output and resistance which leads body back to normal blood pressure
(the opposite of this if there’s stimulus that decreases blood pressure)
