Heart Failure and Hypertension Flashcards
what two things is blood pressure determined by?
- cardiac output
2. peripheral resistance
How does angiotensin II increase blood pressure?
- causes vasoconstriction
- promotes vascular hypertrophy
- stimulates aldosterone release → sodium and water retention
What is poiseulle’s law?
resistance is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the radius
- What is primary/essential hypertension?
- What are the two potential causes of primary hypertension?
- Why are current treatments for primary hypertension not ideal?
- hypertension that does not have a particular cause
- genetic predisposition
salt and water intake - underlying cause is not known/understood, therefore we are not treating the underlying cause
- What happens in the early phase of primary hypertension?
- What drives the chronic phase of primary hypertension?
- In the chronic phase of primary hypertension, is blood volume and cardiac output normal or raised?
- What changes in endothelial function occur in the chronic phase of primary hypertension?
- increased blood volume and cardiac output
- irreversible tissue changes - thickening of walls of resistance vessels (leading to reduction in lumen diameters)
increased vascular tone - normal
- endothelium produces less NO; smooth muscle is less sensitive to NO
- What is secondary hypertension?
2. What are often the causes of secondary hypertension?
- Hypertension with an identifiable cause
2. Renal or endocrine causes
- How does renal artery stenosis lead to secondary hypertension?
- How does chronic renal disease lead to secondary hypertension?
- What is Conn’s Syndrome?
- What is Phaeochromocytoma?
- How does Coarction of the aorta cause secondary hypertension?
- poor perfusion of the kidney, means that it produces a lot of renin
- increase in BP in attempt to restore GFR
- overproduction of aldosterone due to adrenal tumour/adrenal hyperplasia
- adrenal medullary tumours which produce catecholamines
- alpha mediated vasoconstriction
- beta mediated cardiac stimulation - kidneys are hypoperfused.
What changes occur in the heart due to hypertension (2)
- accelerated coronary atheroma formation
- concentric left ventricular hypertrophy (due to increased afterload)
- increased metabolic demands on heart
- compression of cardiac vessels
What changes can occur in the aorta due to hypertension (3)
- atheroma
- aneurism
- dissecting aneurism
- intima is stripped away from the media, creating a false lumen
Name 4 hypertensive retinopathic changes
- AV nipping
- Hard Exudates
- Flame Haemorrhage
- Papilloedema
- What is accelerated hypertension?
- What retinal change indicates accelerated hypertension?
- What causes accelerated hypertension?
- recent significant increase over baseline BP that is associated with target organ damage
- Papilloedema
- loss of autoregulation in the brain, leading to dilation of cerebral arteries
- What is acute heart failure?
- What is chronic heart faiure?
- What is heart failure usually initiated by?
- What are people with heart failure at risk of?
- patient experiences sudden onset of symptoms or rapid worsening of symptoms of existing heart failure
- symptoms of heart failure are ongoing and long term
- initial cardiac insult, such as MI
- sudden death, usually from rhythm disturbance
Name the two types of fluid accumulation that can occur in acute heart failure
Pulmonary oedema
Ansarca - systemic oedema, which usually affects peripheries
- Why does pulmonary oedema occur in heart failure?
- What are the CXR findings in pulmonary oedema
- How does a patient with pulmonary oedema present?
- increase in end diastolic pressure so that it exceeds oncotic pressure in the pulmonary vessels
- enlarged heart (>1/2 size of thorax)
curly B lines - Breathlessnes, orthopnea, PND, pink frothy sputum
Name 2 physiological consequences of LV failure, and how these can worsen the problem
- decreased renal perfusion → RAAS activation → Water retention → increased preload
- Decreased BP → sympathetic activation → vasoconstriction → increased afterload