Key Terminology & Definitions - Cardiovascular Flashcards
Preload
Changes in chamber volume loading during filling (IN)
Afterload
Changes in pressure during contraction (OUT)
Cardiomegaly
Overall increase in heart size
Dysrhythmia
Abnormal rhythm
Frank-Starling relationship
The stroke volume of the left ventricle will increase as the left ventricular volume increases due to the myocyte stretch causing a more forceful systolic contraction.- until heart gets overwhelmed
Concentric hypertrophy of myocardium
Thicker wall of myocardium, smaller lumen - inc mass without inc end-diastolic vol, inc afterload e.g. stenosis
Eccentric hypertrophy of myocardium
Dilation - inc mass and inc end-diastolic vol to accommodate more blood in chamber, wall normal to thin, large lumen
Tachycardia
Inc HR
Bradycardia
Dec HR
Acute heart failure
Intermittent weakness, syncope, dec CO, may present as sudden death with minimal or no lesions (diagnosis of exclusion - on differential list when can’t find cause)
RAAS
Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system - leads to more sodium resorption, more H2O retained = inc blood vol
ANF
Atrial natriuetic factor - released when atria stretch, leads to vasodilation, suppression of RAAS
Cardiac syncope
Changes in HR and pressure leading to inadequate output
Peripheral circulatory failure
Inadequate peripheral vascular perfusion -> reduced effective blood vol (can cause acute heart failure or result from heart failure)
Congestive heart failure
Vascular congestion and oedema in interstitium and body cavities - left and right-sided failure
Left-sided failure
Left atrial dilation, pulmonary congestion/oedema, dyspnoea, cough - haemosiderin-laden macrophages
Right-sided failure
Inc right atria pressure and systemic venous congestion e.g. hepatic/splenic enlargement, ascites, peripheral oedema, renal insufficiency
Cor pulmonale
Right-sided failure due to pulmonary disease e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary thromboembolism - due to any primary condition that affects lungs
Tetralogy of Fallot
Combination of four congenital heart defects - ventricular septal defect (VSD), pulmonary stenosis, a misplaced aorta (overriding aorta) and a thickened right ventricular wall (right ventricular hypertrophy)
Transposition complexes
When position of the aorta and pulmonary artery is altered or flipped - aorta receives blood from RV, one or both vessels are often hypoplastic
Cor triatriatum
Membrane that separates the atrium into two compartments - left or right, impedes pulmonary drainage on the left and systemic drainage on the right (+ movement of blood), rare in cats and dogs
Ectopia cordis
Heart outside of chest
Peritoneopericardial hernia
Connection between abdominal cavity and pericardium due to congenital cleft in diaphragm, may have liver, GI in pericardial sac
Dextrocardia
Apex points right instead of left, may be part of situs inversus, rare in dogs
Situs inversus
Organs are mirror image, oriented abnormally
Pericarditis
Inflammation of pericardium
Serous atrophy of fat
Lipid replaced by proteinaceous fluid
Fibrinous pericarditis
Usually haematogenous microbial infection, firbin forms villus projections
Purulent pericarditis
Presence of pyogenic bacteria
Constrictive pericarditis
Obliteration of pericardial cavity
Persistent right aortic arch (PRAA)
Right fourth aortic arch persists instead of the left
Aorticopulmonary septal defect
Incomplete division of the truncous arteriosus, rare in dogs
Coarctation of aorta
Narrowing of aorta adjacent to ductus arteriosus, leads to heart failure due to pressure overload, rare in dogs
Congenital aneurysm of aorta or pulmonary artery
Localised swelling in artery wall
AV nodal/common bundle degeneration
Syndrome of sudden death, deizures, or viciousness, degeneration and fibrosis of common bundle
Hereditary sudden death syndrome
Young German shepherds - ventricular tachycardia, not enough sympathetic nerves in myocardium
Common bundle stenosis
Hereditary in pugs, syncope and sudden death, abnormal acetylcholine sensitivity
Persistent atrial standstill
Atrophic and fibrotic right atrium, grossly atrium is dilated, may also see skeletal muscle atrophy
Sick sinus syndrome
Prolonged sinus pauses lead to syncope, familial in miniature schnauzer, also seen in westies and dachshunds
Equine grass sickness
Neurodegeneration leads to tachycardia + gut problems
Nodules of Arantius
Small smooth nodules in centre of semilunar valve leaflets = normal structure, not a lesion
-Osis
Degenerative
Jet lesion
Focal endocardial fibrosis
Rhabdomyoma
Non-encapsulated hamartoma of cardiac myocytes, most common in pigs (red wattle pigs), grey nodules that may project into lumen and become necrotic, may resemble Purkinje cells histologically (neoplasia)
Harmatoma
Benign tumour
Myxoma
May arise from endocardium of any chamber, soft, multilobular, gelatinous mass with few cells on histology, rare in animals (neoplasia)
Chondrosarcoma
Neoplasia - rarely arises from cardiac skeleton
Neurofibroma
Multiple benign tumours of Schwann cell origin on peripheral nerves, mostly seen in cattle, occurs in myocardium
Polycythemia
Inc in conc of RBCs
Cardiomyopathy
Idiopathic - name is secondary to problem
Turbulence
The return to equilibrium of heart rate after a premature ventricular contraction. It consists of a brief speed-up in heart rate, followed by a slow decrease back to the baseline rate.
Bradyarrhythmia
Heart block - can be caused by conducting fibre lesions which affect impulse conduction
Eisenmenger complex
Reversal of blood flow in a ventricular septal defect due to pulmonary hypertension
Ductus arteriosus
Vessel that connects the pulmonary artery to the aorta. When exposed to oxygen after birth the cells will contract and close with hours - expect in foals takes up to 5 days.
Fibrinoid vascular necrosis
Degeneration of smooth muscle (resembles fibrin, but is actually mix of fibrin, complement, platelets, immunoglobulins), often indicates a problem with nutrient diffusion from vascular lumen (inflammation)
Fistula
Abnormal communication
Arteriovenous fistula
Congenital aertieal disease - communication between artery (high BP) and vein (low BP), bypassing capillaries - affected veins become thick-walled due to inc pressre
Arterialisation
When veins become thick-walled due to increased pressure
-Sclerosis
Hardening
Arteriosclerosis
Slow, chronic hardening, loss of elasticity, luminal narrowing, proliferation and degeneration (no inflammation)
Atherosclerosis
When hyperlipidaemia causes endothelial injury, lipid incorporated into plaques extracellularly/intercellularly = lipid-laden
Arteriolosclerosis
Heterogenous (mix) lesions, hyaline or hyperplastic
Systemic hypertension
Persistently elevated systemic blood pressure secondary more common than primary
Dystrophic mineralisation/calcification
Affects dead or dying tissue
Metastatic mineralisation/calcification
Due to hypercalcaemia or hyperphosphataemia, often will see mineralisation of vessels and other soft tissues
Aneurysm
Focal abnormal dilation of any vessel - more serious if artery due to high pressure - whole thickness of blood vessel
Dissecting aneurysm
Blood enters wall of vessel via intimal tear then dissects between layers of tunica media, creating a cavity in the wall can fatally rupture or cause stenosis (horses, young male racing greyhounds) (leaky blood vessels)
True aneurysm
Involves all or most layers of the vessel wall (out-pouching)
False aneurysm
Result from a ruptured artery + bleeds into connective tissue around artery
Thrombi
Abnormal coagulation at site of damage associated with problem in vessel at the site, attached (blood clot not attached), can occlude, part of healing process
Embolus
Piece of broken off thrombus - can be bacteria, gas
Aortoiliac thrombosis
Saddle thrombi in horses - exercise intolerance and hind lameness
DIC
Disseminated intravascular coagulation - abnormal clotting of blood throughout the body’s vessels (generalised intravascular thrombosis)
Vasculitis
Inflammatory cells (WBCs) within and around the wall of a vessel with damage to the wall (fibrin, collagen degeneration, necrosis), infectious or non-infectious
Perivascular inflammation
Normal vessel w/ inflammatory cells around it
Idiopathic canine polyarteritis
Most common in beagles - necrotising arteritis of spinal arteries, suspected immune-mediated, leads to infarction and muscle atrophy, may progress to amyloidosis
Systemic necrotising vasculitis
= Polyarteritis nodosa - heterogenous arterides, sporadic in all species, only affects small and medium-sized arteries - renal, coronary, gastrointestinal.
Acute lesions look like type III hypersensitivity, chronic lesions progress to fibrosis
Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRFV)
= Alabama rot - idiopathic vasculopathy initially described in racing greyhounds in the south US
Saccular aneurysm
True aneurysm - form blood clot
Fusiform aneurysm
True aneurysm - bulges or balloons out on all sides of the blood vessel
Clot
Blood, not attached, no structure, coagulation
Thrombosis
Process to make thrombus - has a structure
Cutaneous and renal glomerular vasculopathy (CRGV)
= Alabama rot - idiopathic vasculopathy, deep, slow-healing cutaneous ulcers due to arteritis and also glomerular necrosis, Shiga toxin from E.coli implicated in pathogenesis
Venereal spread
Sexual
Panvasculitis
Any endothelial-lined structure damage (vasculitis)
African horse sickness
Midge vector, closely related to BTV (vasculitis)
African swine fever
Enveloped DNA virus, resistant to degradation (vasculitis)
Classical swine fever
Flavivirus, enveloped RNA virus (vasculitis)
Heartwater (cowdriosis)
Ehrlichia ruminantium, tick-borne (Amblyomma spp.), rickettsia bacteria (gram -ive) (vasculitis)
Varicocity
Dilated vein that primarily occurs in the lower limbs particularly in the legs
Varicocele
Enlargement (dilation) of the veins that transport oxygen-depleted blood away from the testicle (in pampiniform plexus)
Phaeochromocytoma
Neuroendocrine tumour that start in the inner part of the adrenal gland (the medulla)
Phlebothrombosis
No inflammation but can lead to inflammation
Thrombophlebitis
Inflammation within vein - always causes thrombosis
Lymphoedema
Swelling of body part due to excessive lymph, secondary to lymphatic disorder, if prolonged, leads to fibrosis
Primary lymphoedema
Congenital (anomalous development), may be hereditary
Secondary lymphoedema
Obstruction of normal lymphatics (inflammation, neoplasia, trauma, surgical)
Lymphocoele
Lymph-filled space with no epithelial lining - likely due to traumatic disruption of lymphatic
Lymphangiectasis
Dilation, usually due to obstruction and leads to accumulation of excess interstitial fluid
Intestinal lymphangiectasis
Most common cause of protein losing enteropathy in dogs, also seen in Jone’s disease and other enteritides
Chylothorax
Leakage or rupture of the thoracic duct - uncommon in dogs and cats, trauma usually implicated, milk fluid w/ lipid droplets
Lymphangitis
Inflammation of the lymphatic system caused by an infection
Epizootic lymphangitis
Caused by Histoplasma capsulatum var farciminosum (fungus)
Angioma
Benign tumour of endothelium (well-organised channels, can be hard to tell apart from malformations or proliferation e.g. granulation tissue)
Angiosarcoma
Malignant tumour of endothelium (more haphazard and cellular)
Hamartoma
Vascular neoplasia - too much normal tissue, usually present at birth (congenital), sometimes used to refer to haemangiomas
Telangiectasis
Vascular neoplasia - congenital or acquired foci of dilated vessels
Haemangioma
Most common benign neoplasm of older dogs (white ones from sunny regions), red-black masses that ooze blood when cut, excision is curative
Lymphangioma
Rare benign tumour of lymphatics, congenital or spontaneous in adults, can be hard to remove surgically
Glomus tumour
Rare, benign neoplasm of thermal receptors, usually on digits
Haemangiosarcoma
Most common malignant neoplasm / primary cardiac tumour in older dogs - German Shepherds
Lymphangiosarcoma
Very rare, histologically similar to haemangiosarcoma but few erythrocytes, very invasive and widespread
Intravascular lymphoma
Rare, large cell lymphoma in dogs, cats, humans, neoplastic cells proliferate inside blood vessels
Patent
Present in blood, infectious stage
Endosymbiont
Bacteria found within cells
Haemorrhage
Erythrocytes outside vessels
Congestion
Erythrocytes inside vessels
