Heart Failure Flashcards
What is cardiac output affected by?
Stroke volume and heart rate - SV+HR=CO
What affects stroke volume?
Contractility and Afterload
What affects contractility?
preload (think frank starling law) and sympathetic nervous system.
What affects afterload?
peripheral vasoconstriction, stenosis
What affects the heart rate?
Sympathetic nervous system (norepi) and parasympathetic nervous system (acetylcholine)
What affects preload?
heart rate can affect preload (not enough time to fill), venous return, blood volume.
What is preload proportional to?
End diastolic volume. As more blood enters the heart, the heart muscles (sarcomeres) stretch, and sarcomere length gets greater and contractility increases.
What is the Frank Starling Law?
The more volume that enters the heart, the harder the heart can contract. Until there’s too much stretch, and then it’s like a loose rubber band.
What is afterload?
The pressure that the ventricles need to generate to overcome resistance to the ejection of blood. Diastolic BP is a good indicator of afterload.
What is low output heart failure?
When the CO is below normal, and can’t even meet minimal demands of the body (like even at rest)
What is high output heart failure?
It’s pretty uncommon but CO is above normal but can’t meet increased demands for oxygenated blood. Example: severe anemia, and hyperthyroidism.
What is left sided heart failure
When the left ventricle isn’t working properly. Examples: MI, mitral or aortic valve disease, htn. Blood back up into left atrium and pulmonary circulation.
What are the effects of left sided heart failure?
Decreased cardiac output, increased pulmonary congestion.
What are the signs of pulmonary congestion?
Dyspnea, exertional dyspnea, orthopnea, resting dyspnea, nocturnal dyspnea, cough, rales, wheezing, hemoptysis as pulmonary vessels break, pallor and cyanosis from hypoxemia
Why do some people with left sided heart failure experience orthopnea?
Gravitational forces increase venous return and blood flow to the lungs. Relieved by sitting up.
Why do some people get paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea? How is this different than orthopnea?
It’s not just the lying down part. Peripheral edema returns to circulation at night and gets taken to lungs. That coupled with respiratory depression at night causes decreased arterial oxygen.
How does pulmonary edema affect ventilation and gas exchange?
It makes someone hypoxic because there’s too great of a distance for oxygen and co2 to properly exchange. Also, pulmonary edema makes the lungs stiff and that decreases compliance nad makes it harder to inhale.
What are some signs of decreased cardiac output?
hypotension, insufficient blood being pumped to tissues - fatigue, muscle wekaness, skin pallor, dizziness, confusion, oliguria.
Where causes right sided heart failure?
Right heart is weakened due to pulmonary htn d/t primary lung disease like cor pulmonale, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary or tricuspid valvular dx, right ventricular infarction.
What does blood back up into in right sided heart failure?
Goes to right atrium and systemic venous system.
What’s cor pulmonale?
Chronic bronchitis and emphysema cause the lungs to be hypoxic so the lungs compensate by constricting blood and causing an increase pulmonary BP leading to cor pulmonale.