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Heart Failure
Heart Failure
9
Pharmacology
Professional
09/17/2012

Additional Pharmacology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term

Heart Failure is one of the most important conditions to include lifestyle counseilng. Counseling such as?

Definition

Restrict Sodium Intake


Monitor weight on a daily basis (a sudden water-weight gain can indicate that the condition has acutely "decompensated", or worsened)


Discontinue tobacco use


Limit alcohol


Improve nutrition and physical activity

 

Term
What commonly causes heart failure?
Definition

Hypertension: the heart has to pump against a high pressure - this results in an enlarged ventricle and eventually reduced cardiac output.

Term

The heart has four chambers: a right atrium and ventricle and a left atrium and ventricle. Describe the movement of blood throughout the heart

Definition

Right atrium (oxygen-poor blood) ---> right ventricle ---> pulmonary artery into the lungs for oxygen replenishment ---> left atrium (back into the heart) ---> left ventricle ---> aorta and into systemic circulation

Term

The heart beat sounds (if healthy) sound like "lub-dub, lub dub". What does the "lub" represent?

[image][image][image][image]R[image]Wikipedia: R (named ar ) is the eighteenth letter of the ISO basic Latin alphabet.

Definition

S1 heart sound. The sound of the tricuspid and mitral valves closing in the right atrium and ventricle

Term

The heart beat sounds (if healthy) sound like "lub-dub, lub dub". What does the "dub" represent?

Definition

S2 sound. The sound of the aortic and pulmonary valves closing in the left atrium and ventricle.

Term
What equation describes cardiac output?
Definition

CO = SV x HR [writter in mL or L (of blood volume) per minute]

 

SV: stroke volume

HR: heart rate

Term
When does heart failure occur?
Definition

When the left ventricle (and sometimes the right, or both ventricles) does not fill with or eject blood properly. Consequently, the heart fails to pump sufficient blodd to meet the body's metabolic (oxygen and nutrient) needs.

 

Term
What physiological changes occur in the early stages of heart failure?
Definition

Heart responds to diminshed output by stretching (to hold more blood) or by growing thicker muscular walls in order to pump harder. This will improve the situation short-term, but eventually the chamber inside the left ventricle becomes smaller due to expanding muscle, and the muscle walls weaken. This results in a decreased CO.

 

Term

What happens when the body compensates for early stages of heart failure?

Definition

In an attempt to compensate, the body tries to maintain normal arterial pressure through constricting arterial vessels by activation of the sympathetic (adrenergic) nervous system (SNS). SNS activation causes the kidneys to release renin, which activates the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), resulting in increased systemic vascular resistance via increased aniotensin II and increased aldosterone, which results in increased renal reabsorption of sodium and water. Therefore, blood volume increases and helps maintain CO, but it is harmful because it raises vesnous pressure and causes pulmonary and systemic edema. The excess fluid causes the body to become "congested" and classic symptoms of "congestive" heart failure appear, including dyspnea (shortness of breath, or SOB), fatigure, pulmonary congestion (fluid back-up into the lungs - which contributes to the SOB) and peripheral edema.

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