The human heart is a remarkable organ. It has several functions in order to help humans sustain life each and every day. One of its biggest responsibilities is to pump oxygen and nutrient rich blood to areas of the body to tolerate all of life’s activities. Autonomic functions such as breathing require the heart to function properly. Averaging the size of a human fist, it continuously pumps around five quarts of blood each minute, or roughly 2,000 gallons every single day. Every second of the day, one’s heart is constantly working and how hard it has to work can be a determining factor on one’s health. Though most humans are born with a normal functioning heart, there are many who are diagnosed with abnormalities at birth and even later on in their lives. One of these abnormalities is known as Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, also known as WPW.
WPW is a congenital heart defect in which an extra circuit of nerves or wires exists in the heart creating a separate pathway for its electrical output. This short circuit triggers what is known as paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, a resting heart rate of over 100 beats per minute. When the heartbeat travels from the top to the bottom of the heart, occasionally the extra nerves will pick up this heartbeat, resulting in a rapid heartbeat/palpitations along with the possibilities of becoming light headed or shortness of breath. This can be dangerous if it allows electrical impulses to travel to the sinus node or if they overlap. Generally these can cause symptoms from chest pains and dizziness all the way up to seizures and cardiac death in rare cases. It was in 1930 that Drs. Wolff, Parkinson and White, had put a new emphasis on cardiology at the time, and has peaked the interests ...
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...Holter Monitor. This is a portable ECG device that is typically worn on the belt loop or in form of a shoulder strap. It is worn for a 24-hour period, providing ones doctor with an extended analysis of ones heart pattern. If using this method, patients are asked to keep a diary and record any warning signs they may experience. Once diagnosed, a cardiologist may order an electrophysiological test to pinpoint the exact location of the extra pathway. More common than not, patients will be awake during the test but given a form of medicine to stay calm throughout this complicated procedure. “Thin, flexible tubes (catheters) tipped with electrodes are threaded through your blood vessels to various spots in your heart. Once in place, the electrodes can precisely map the spread of electrical impulses during each beat and identify an extra electrical pathway” (Allen, 2012).
“Hypoplastic left heart syndrome accounts for 9% of all critically ill newborns with congenital cardiac disease, causing the largest number of cardiac deaths in the first year of life.(2) ” HLHS is a severe heart defect that is present at birth. HLHS combines different defects that result in an underdeveloped left side of the heart. This syndrome is one of the most challenging and difficult to manage of all of the congenital heart defects. Multiple portions on the left side of the heart are affected including the left ventricle, the mitral and aortic valve, and the ascending aorta. These structures are greatly reduced in size, or completely nonexistent causing the functionality of the left heart to be reduced, or non-functional all together.
The development of the artificial heart began in the early 1950’s. The initial prototype, developed in 1970’s by the artificial developmental staff at the University of Utah, allowed 50 hours of sustained life in a sheep. Although this was called a success, the implantation of the artificial heart left the sheep in a weakened state. It wasn’t until late 1970’s and the early 1980’s where the improvement of the artificial heart actually received attention as a possible alternative to a heart transplant. The remodeled product of the early 1970’s did more than just the 50 hours of sustained life; it enabled the cow to live longer and to live a relatively normal life, with the exception of a machine attached to the animal.
The science and history of the heart can be traced back as far as the fourth century B.C. Greek philosopher, Aristotle, declared the heart to be the most vital organ in the body based on observations of chick embryos. In the second century A.D, similar ideas were later reestablished in a piece written by Galen called On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body. Galen’s thesis was that the heart was the source of the body’s essential heat and most closely related to the soul. Galen made careful observations of the physical properties of the heart as well. He said “The heart is a hard flesh, not easily injured. In hardness, tension, in general strength, and resistance to injury, the fibers of the heart far surpasses all others, for no other instrument performs such continues, hard work as the heart”(Galen, Volume 1).
Eisenmenger Syndrome (ES) is a heart defect that was first giving the name in 1897 (Fukushima, 2015). This syndrome happens when the birth defect is not treated before the lungs’ arteries become damaged. Eisenmenger Syndrome is named after Victor Eisenmenger a man who had a patient who showed symptoms such as, breathing complications and skin that was turning a bluish color. The autopsy of this patient lead him to discover a ventricular septal defect [VSD] (El-Chami, 2014), that causes a hole in the wall on the right and left ventricular. This is the defect that begins when signaling for pulmonary artery hypertension, which progresses into more advanced stages of ES. This birth defect eventually causes patients to have various
For the purpose of this assessment I have chosen to focus upon cardiomyopathy which have commonly been subdivided into a specific diagnosis of either hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) and arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD). HCM and DCM are commonly ‘diagnosed’ separately and as an individual diagnosis but there is suggestion that a single gene defect can result in the syndrome of heart failure.
than 9 square centimeters, was placed on the patient's chest at various angles. The transducer delivered ultrasound waves into the body and these
Approximately, 1 of every 500 people is affected with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, it is important for patients to understand the dynamics of the disease as it could potentially be life threatening. In most cases, the patients quality of life is not affected, but a few will experience symptoms that cause significant discomfort or undetected complications that could lead to sudden cardiac death. With that in mind, it would be beneficial to recognize what it is, specific causes, the steps of diagnoses, and the options for treatment.
Today, cardiovascular disease is “the number one killer in the United States and the developed world” (Sapolsky, 2004, p. 41). Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common form of cardiovascular disease, and is responsible for claiming an unreasonable amount of lives every year. CHD can begin to accumulate in young adults, but is prominently found in both men and women in their later adult lives. As a result of CHD, men typically experience heart attacks, whereas women present with chest pains, known as angina (Matthews, 2005).
A normal heartbeats at a rate of 60-100 beats per minute. Cardiac dysrhythmia occurs when there is a disturbance in the normal rhythm of the heart. Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter are two of the most common types of cardiac dysrhythmia. “These atrial arrhythmias may interfere with the heart’s ability to pump blood properly from its upper chambers (atria). The atria may not always empty completely, and blood remaining there too long may stagnate and potentially clot. Such clots may travel to other parts of the body, where they may cause blockages in the blood supply to the limbs, brain or heart. ("Cardiac Arrhythmias." Cardiac Arrhythmias. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013, retrieved from http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/) The American Heart Association reports that 383,000 emergency out-of-hospital treated cardiac arrests occur in the United States. A number of factors can cause cardiac dysrhythmia; smoking, heavy alcohol use, drugs (ie; cocaine or amphetamines), some prescription or over-the-counter medicines, or even too much caffeine or nicotine. Emo...
The heart serves as a powerful function in the human body through two main jobs. It pumps oxygen-rich blood throughout the body and “blood vessels called coronary arteries that carry oxygenated blood straight into the heart muscle” (Katzenstein and Pinã, 2). There are four chambers and valves inside the heart that “help regulate the flow of blood as it travels through the heart’s chambers and out to the lungs and body” (Katzenstein Pinã, 2). Within the heart there is the upper chamber known as the atrium (atria) and the lower chamber known as the ventricles. “The atrium receive blood from the lu...
Just as breast cancer is killing our African American women, heart disease is also one of the major diseases killing our women. Heart disease is one of the nation’s leading causes of death in both woman and men. About 600,000 people die of heart disease in the United States (Americas heart disease burden, 2013). Some facts about heart disease are every year about 935,000 Americans have a heart attack. Of these, 610,000 are a first heart attack victim. 325,000 happen in people who have already had a heart attack. Also coronary heart disease alone costs the United States $108.9 billion each year. This total includes the cost of health care services, medications, and loss of productivity. Deaths of heart disease in the United States back in 2008 killed about 24.5% of African Americans.
The heart is a pump with four chambers made of their own special muscle called cardiac muscle. Its interwoven muscle fibers enable the heart to contract or squeeze together automatically (Colombo 7). It’s about the same size of a fist and weighs some where around two hundred fifty to three hundred fifty grams (Marieb 432). The size of the heart depends on a person’s height and size. The heart wall is enclosed in three layers: superficial epicardium, middle epicardium, and deep epicardium. It is then enclosed in a double-walled sac called the Pericardium. The terms Systole and Diastole refer respectively and literally to the contraction and relaxation periods of heart activity (Marieb 432). While the doctor is taking a patient’s blood pressure, he listens for the contractions and relaxations of the heart. He also listens for them to make sure that they are going in a single rhythm, to make sure that there are no arrhythmias or complications. The heart muscle does not depend on the nervous system. If the nervous s...
Cardiac dysrhythmias come in different degrees of severity. There are heart conditions that you are able to live with and manage on a daily basis and those that require immediate attention. Atrial Fibrillation is one of the more frequently seen types of dysrhythmias (NIH, 2011). The best way to diagnosis a heart condition is by reading a cardiac strip (Ignatavicius &Workman, 2013). Cardiac strips play an chief part in the nursing world allowing the nurse and other trained medical professionals to interpret what the heart is doing. In a normal strip, one can clearly identify a P wave before every QRS complex, which is then followed by a T wave; in Atrial Fibrillation, the Sinoatrial node fires irregularly causing there to be no clear P wave and an irregular QRS complex (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013). Basically, it means that the atria, the upper chambers of the heart, are contracting too quickly and no clear P wave is identified because of this ‘fibrillation’ (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2013).
Cardiofaciocutaneous syndrome is a very rare and serious genetic disorder that generally affects the heart, facial features, and skin of an individual. It is caused by a desultory gene mutation, which takes place in one of four genes. Those genes are known as BRAF, MEK1, MEK2, and KRAS. From research, it is also suspected there is a possibility that other genes are associated with the rare condition. This disorder holds multiple alternative names, a long history, obvious symptoms, extensive amounts of interesting data, and is lucky enough to be supported by numerous organizations that will stop at nothing to help.
With this newer technology Physicians, nurses, and other approved medical staff have the option to monitor their patient’s heart functionality, and fix pacemaker electrical signals to fit patients need from a mobile device, without ever bringing the patient into the Physicians’ office. Cardiac remote patient monitoring uses smart phones, and specific designed (secured) e-mails to deliver information sent from the device implanted within the patient’s heart. This allows medical staff to receive pertinent up-to date- information on the condition of the patient’s pacemaker, and heart. This can help create profound patient care, early critical heart failure, or heart defibrillation detection; while adding to medical staff’s proficiency, and cutting costly emergency room visits with prevention detection ("Remote Monitoring Technology Improves Pacemaker Performance", 2012).