Ch. 5 Diagnositic Terms

Question 0

arrhythmia, disrhythmia

Answer 0

irregularity or loss of rhythm in a heartbeat

Question 1

acute coronary syndrome (ACS)

Answer 1

signs and symptoms that indicate an active process of the pathological events leading to myocardial infarction

Question 2

bradycardia

Answer 2

slow heart rate (<60 bpm)

Question 3

fibrillation

Answer 3

chaotic, irregular contractions of the heart (atrial or ventricular)

Question 4

premature ventricular contraction (PVC)

Answer 4

ventricular contraction preceding the normal impulse initiated by the SA node

Question 5

tachycardia

Answer 5

fast heart rate (>100 bpm)

Question 6

bacterial endocarditis

Answer 6

a bacterial infection that affects the endocardium or heart valves

Question 7

cardiac tamponade

Answer 7

general term for disease of the heart muscle

Question 8

congenital anomaly of the heart

Answer 8

malformations of the heart present at birth (congenital = born with, anomaly = irregularity)

Question 9

atrial septal defect (ASD)

Answer 9

an opening in the interatrial septum

Question 10

coarctation of the aorta

Answer 10

narrowing of the descending aorta, resulting in limited blood flow to the lower body

Question 11

patent ductus arteriosus (PDA)

Answer 11

an abnormal opening between the pulmonary artery and the aorta (patent = opening)

Question 12

ventricular septal defect (VSD)

Answer 12

an opening in the interventricular septum

Question 13

congestive heart failure (CHF); left ventricular failure

Answer 13

failure of the left ventricle to pump an adequate amount of blood to the body, causing a “bottleneck” of congestion in the lungs and possible edema in the lower body

Question 14

cor pumonale; right ventricular failure

Answer 14

enlargement of the right ventricle, resulting from chronic disease of the lungs, which causes congestion of the pulmonary circulation to the lungs (cor = heart)

Question 15

coronary artery disease (CAD)

Answer 15

a condition affecting the arteries of the heart, reducing blood flow to the myocardium; most often caused by atherosclerosis

Question 16

hypertension (HTN)

Answer 16

persistently high blood pressure

Question 17

essential hypertension; primary hypertension

Answer 17

high blood pressure attributed to no single cause

Question 18

secondary hypertension

Answer 18

high blood pressure caused by the effects of another disease

Question 19

mitral valve prolapse (MVP)

Answer 19

protrusion of one or both cusps of the mitral valve back into the left atrium during ventricular contraction, resulting in back flow of blood

Question 20

myocardial infarction (MI)

Answer 20

heart attack

Question 21

myocarditis

Answer 21

inflammation of the myocardium, most often due to bacterial infection

Question 22

pericarditis

Answer 22

inflammation of the pericardium

Question 23

rheumatic heart disease

Answer 23

damage to the heart and valves due to rheumatic fever

Question 24

sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)

Answer 24

the abrupt cessation of cardiac output, most commonly as the result of ventricular fibrillation

Question 25

deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

Answer 25

formation of a clot in a deep vein of the body, most often in the femoral and illiac veins

Question 26

phlebitis

Answer 26

inflammation of a vein

Question 27

thrombophlebitis

Answer 27

inflammation of a vein associated with a clot formation

Question 28

varicose veins

Answer 28

abnormally swollen, twisted veins with defective valves