Circulatory Disorders Flashcards
What is arteriosclerosis?
general term used to described many several conditions - wall of arteries thicken and lose elastic properties (become harder)
What is atherosclerosis?
condition where plaque builds up inside of artery walls - causing narrowing due to this build up
- where blood flow decreases and blood pressure increases
What can atherosclerosis lead to?
- depending on where plaque is, can lead to chest pain, blood clots, shortness of breath, heart attack or heart failure
How is arteriosclerosis treated?
- using angioplasty: a procedure where a tube is inserted into a clogged artery, the tube reaches the site where the artery is clogged, tiny balloons is inflated to force artery open –> where a vascular sent tube is inserted into blocked area, vessels open
- Aspiration: a medication that prevent platelets from sticking and reduce clots
- Urokinase and t-PA: special clot-busting meds that are used to breeze down clots and improve blood flow
Another way arteriosclerosis is treated?
Coronary Bypass
- surgeons choose to re-route the flow blood rather than try unblock blood vessels
- section of healthy artery or vein from another part of body like legs and use to create new pathway for blood around blockage
- may be double, triple, or quadruple bypass - depending on number of blockage
What is an aneurysm?
- damaging the artery walls
Definition: a bulge in an artery due to a weakened area of arterial wall - b.p cause aneurysm to grow larger in time -> increasing risk of bursting –> if it does their internal bleeding lead to death
- most occur in aorta
How are aneurysms treated?
treated by surgery that remove damaged portion of blood vessel and replace it with a patch or a graft
What are heart valve diseases
- Where valves does not close completely and blood flows backward instead of forward → this is called regurgitation
- Other cases, valves opening become narrowed from thickening or scarring, pressuring blood flow out of ventricle/atria → stenosis
- Common form = mitral valve prolapse, one or both mitral valve flaps bulges back into atriums, preventing valve from forming a tight seal
Causes of heart valve diseases?
- Natural process of aging, damage from infection or heart attack, or connective tissue disorders
- Some regurgitation and stenosis occur at the same time → affect more than 1 valve → reduce hearts ability to pump blood through body → common cause: heart failure
Treatment of heart valve diseases?
- Repair valves or replace them
- Replacement: may use animal or human sources or made of metal, plastic, or other material
What is arrhythmia?
- problem with speed or rhythm of heartbeat
- Irregular heartbeat may be harmless, but in some cases can lead to insufficient blood flow to brain or other organs
How is arrhythmia treated?
medication or may need a pacemaker (sends electrical impulses that control heart rate)
How does pacemakers work?
-Attached to skin of chest and includes a sensor that monitors heart
-Only transmits electrical impulses to heart when heartbeat is abnormal → can send to atria, ventricles, or both depending on issue
What is a congenital heart defect?
- Defect in the heart → present at birth
- Problems in walls dividing the chambers of heart in valves and structure of blood vessels near heart
- These defects can be heard (heart murmurs) with a stethoscopes (but has limitations, need more tests to get a full diagnosis), where blood leaks through valves can be heard → some defects can arise later in life (these are called acquired heart defects)
Treatment of congenital heart defects?
- Can remove or reduce damage
- CT scan or MRI scan can be used to create an exact plastic or wax model of body part like heart → allowing surgeons to plan and practice surgery beforehand
What is a stroke?
When arteries supplying blood to brain are damaged → cut flow of oxygen and nutrients to blood tissues
What is ischemic stroke?
when a clot in a blood vessel blocks the flow of blood to the brain
What is a hemorrhagic stroke?
- when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and blood flows into the surrounding brain tissue
- Both kill brain cells and can lead to permanent damage
What is the treatments of strokes?
- must start within few hours of symptoms
3 main treatments
1. Drugs - clot busters
2. Surgery
3. Non-surgical procedure - All depend on how serious stroke is, age, and general health of patient, and how soon treatment is started
How are circulatory system disorders diagnosed?
- Coronary angiography
- ECHO
- Electrocardiogram
- Heart monitors
- Cardiac catheterization
What is a coronary angiography?
- Mapping the coronary arteries → done by injecting liquid dye into artery and then take X ray as dye moves through blood vessels
- Doctors can determine where the circulation is blocked
What is an ECHO?
-Uses ultrasound tech to create picture of heart
-Records sound waves to reveal shape and movement of heart valves, the size of heart chambers, and how well heart functions
-May be done to determine cause of stroke or risk of blood clots
What is electrocardiogram?
- Cardiac stress test
- Measures hearts electrical activity, blood pressures, and heart rate while person exercises → determines hearts response to stress of exercise
- Helps determine cause of unexplained chest pain or if person is experiencing irregular heartbeats, excessive dizziness, or fatigue
What is a heart monitor?
Holter monitor:
- Used when disturbances in heart rhythm are detected and patients are given this recording device to wear for 24-48 h
- Attaches to chest via small electrodes
- Device records heart rhythm and produces a diagnostic pattern
Event monitor:
- Smaller device that patients activates when symptoms occur
- Allowing to record reading
What is a cardiac catheterization?
- Used in conjunction with other tests like angiography
- A thin flexible tube (catheter) is inserted through artery in groin or arm that is guided through body until tip reaches the heart
- X rays are taken of heart and blood vessels → dye is often injected in catheter
What is hemophilia?
- Command blood disorder with is inherited, life-threatening condition
- Bleed for a long time and are risk of dying from internal bleeding from minor injury
- This is a sex-linked trait in humans, a rare disorder that usually in males
What causes hemophilia?
insufficient clotting proteins in blood
What are treatments of hemophilia?
missing clotting proteins in blood (called factor VIII) and some hemophiliacs can be treated with injections with this protein
What is anemia?
Blood contains fewer than normal health red blood cells. Causing dizziness, fatigue, shortness of breath, headache, and cold hands and feet
What are the types of anemia?
mild, short-term, chronic or sever (can be life threatening as lack of O2 in blood can damage brain, heart, and other, can cause death)
What is the cause of anemia?
Blood loss and when red blood cells do not contain enough hemoglobin
What is the treatment of anemia?
For mild and short-term: treated with dietary supplements
What is leukemia?
Cancer of white blood cells
2 main types -
1. Mueloid - characterized by presence of too many white blood cells that are immature and unable to fight infections, crowding out red blood cells, causing anemia
2. Lymphoid - Cancer of lymphocytes, Symptoms are similar
- Occur in acute or chronic
- Acute: appear suddenly and death quickly
- Chronic: may go undetected for months/years
Treatment of leukemia?
- Blood transfusion in increase red blood cells and healthy white blood cells
- Chemotherapy
- Bone marrow transplant → provide health narrow and healthy white blood cell can grow
What are the solutions for shortage of organ transplant
Xenotransplant
- Some animal tissue have been used as grafts to humans → however these are chemically treated and not living functional tissue
- Heart valves from pigs have been successfully transplanted into humans
- However there are many health, safety, legal, etc issues to consider
- Potential problems:
a) Risk of transmitting diseases
b) Risk of immune system rejecting tissues
Artificial Hearts
- Faulty human hearts have already been replaced with complete artificial, self-contained, mechanical pumps
- Made of titanium and plastic
- Core mechanism is a hydraulic pump that pump more than 10 L of blood/minute
- Powered by batteries, one is external, worn in a belt pack around persons waste → transmits power by wireless energy transfer across skin to rechargeable battery inside abdomen
- Allow person to disconnect external battery to perform activities (showering)
- Internal battery runs heart → electronic controller implanted in abdominal wall monitors and controls pump speed of heart
What is the use of nanotech?
- Help diagnose cardiovascular and other disease more quickly and accurately
- Involves microscopic structures (a tiny fraction of width of human hair) -> detect changes in cells and molecules, many diseases produce changes in quality or type or protein molecules before obvious symptoms
- Molecules that point out the development of disease are called biomarkers
- NANOTECH can give biomarker readings and help diagnose within 30 mins
- Lead to earlier detection, more individualized patient care, and reduced costs
What is chemotherapy?
Use of drugs that kill cancer cells
- Disadvantage = same drugs kill healthy cells and produce unpleasant side side effects
Cancer cell produce different enzymes than healthy cells surround it
- Scientists are also testing microscopic containers drugs, made of biodegradable gels, that can be injected into body → release only when encounter cells produce enzymes
- Prototype of nanovalve = design release drugs only to cells that have a basic pH (healthy tissue differs slightly from diseased tissue)
- In chemical environmental that is at neutral to acidic pH (nono valve remains closed) → opens to release drugs when body’s internal environmental is a basic pH
