Any kind of discomfort or pain arising in the front part of the body between the neck and upper abdomen which can range from a very mild to severe life-threatening pain, is said to be a chest pain.
Types of chest pain
Stable angina
Predictable and caused due to reduced flow of blood to the heart causing a lack of oxygen to heart muscles.
Unstable angina
Unpredictable and caused due to stress or exertion. This type of chest pain worsens with time.
Pericarditis
The inflammation of thin membrane of tissues surrounding the heart causes them to start rubbing against each other which may cause chest pain known as pericarditis..
Pneumothorax
When air gets filled between the lungs and the chest wall, it causes the lung to collapse.
Collapsed lungs happen most often as the result of some sort of trauma to the chest. This trauma includes but is not limited to rib fractures, gunshot wounds, knife wounds, or a hard hit to the chest, often the result of car accidents. There are also nonviolent causes for lung collapses, such as damaged lung tissue which is a result from smoking or other unhealthy activities. Unhealthy hung tissue is weaker than healthy lung tissue so it allows the lung to collapse more easily. Underlying undiagnosed medical conditions such as pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, and lung cancer could also be causes of a collapsed lung. Another possible culprit of a collapsed lung is air blebs, small air filled blisters that present themselves on the outer lining of some people’s lungs. When air blubs rupture, they have the capacity to cause atelectasis.
Cardiomyopathy, by definition, means the weakening of the heart muscle. The heart is operated by a striated muscle that relies on the autonomic nervous system to function. Cardiomyopathy is diagnosed in four different ways based on what caused the illness and exactly what part of the heart is weakened. The four main types of cardiomyopathy are dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. One other category of cardiomyopathy that is diagnosed is “unclassified cardiomyopathy.” Unclassified cardiomyopathy is the weakening of the heart that does not fit into the main four categories.
Healthy lung tissue is predominately soft, elastic connective tissue, designed to slide easily over the thorax with each breath. The lungs are covered with visceral pleura which glide fluidly over the parietal pleura of the thoracic cavity thanks to the serous secretion of pleural fluid (Marieb, 2006, p. 430). During inhalation, the lungs expand with air, similar to filling a balloon. The pliable latex of the balloon allows it to expand, just as the pliability of lungs and their components allows for expansion. During exhalation, the volume of air decrease causing a deflation, similar to letting air out of the balloon. However, unlike a balloon, the paired lungs are not filled with empty spaces; the bronchi enter the lungs and subdivide progressively smaller into bronchioles, a network of conducting passageways leading to the alveoli (Marieb, 2006, p. 433). Alveoli are small air sacs in the respiratory zone. The respiratory zone also consists of bronchioles and alveolar ducts, and is responsible for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide (Marieb, 2006, p. 433).
Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle, causing the heart muscle to become enlarged, thick or rigid. In rare cases, the muscle tissue in the heart is replaced with scar tissue.
Congestive Heart Failure is when the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. It does not mean the heart has stopped working. The blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. This means; the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This only keeps the blood moving for a short while. The heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. This makes the kidneys respond by causing the body to retain fluid and sodium. When the body builds up with fluids, it becomes congested. Many conditions can cause heart failure, and they are Coronary artery disease, Heart attack, Cardiomyopathy, and conditions that overwork the heart.
in the differential diagnosis of my patient as he is complaining of chest pain. This disease results from inflammation of the pericardium which is a tough sac that covers the heart and the base of the vessels (Tingle, Molina & Calvert, 2007).
They also feel twinges in the chest. The pain is caused by inflammation of the pleura charged. Typically the annoying perception is localized in the area affected by inflammation, although it can be felt in even more distant regions of the body, such as the abdomen or base thoracic, neck or shoulder.
“Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body's needs for blood and oxygen” (American Heart Association, 2012, para 3). What this basically means is that the body is functioning in a way that the heart cannot keep up with. Although heart failure can be acute and occur suddenly, it usually develops over time and is a long-term or chronic condition. There are two different types of heart failure, left-sided and right-sided, and they can be caused by other diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, or high blood pressure (National Institutes of Health, 2012). In most cases, both sides of the heart are affected simultaneously.
Our heart is a muscle. Which means, our heart needs oxygen. A heart attack takes place when the blood flow that brings oxygen to the heart is stopped. This goes on because coronary arteries that helps supply
to determine why athletes suffer sudden cardiac arrest, and although there have been a fair amount of conclusions, none have been clear and strong enough to determine why exactly they occ...
(Slide 2) What is Cardiomyopathy? If we break down the word we can see “Cardio” which means of the heart, “myo” which means muscle, and “pathy” which means disease, therefore cardiomyopathies are diseases of the heart muscle. (Slide 3) There are 3 main types of cardiomyopathies; hypertrophic, dilated, and restrictive. I will only be discussing dilated cardiomyopathy, which is characterized by the enlargement of the hearts chambers with impaired systolic function. It is estimated that as many as 1 of 500 adults may have this condition. Dilated cardiomyopathy is more common in blacks than in whites and in males than in females. It is the most common form of cardiomyopathy in children and it can occur at any age (CDC).
Air then travels to the bronchioles which are narrow (bronchoconstriction) due to the natural defence in keeping irritants out of the airway, causing wheezing breath sounds.(Eldridge, 2016) The air then proceeds to the alveoli, which are weakened and damaged air sacs due to the progression of the disease, that are unable to efficiently move O2 into the blood stream and gas exchange CO2 to be expelled through exhale, causing hypoxemia, lethargy, dyspnoea and high CO2 reading. (“Lung conditions - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),”
Cardiovascular System: He does not experience any chest pain or palpitation. He does not have dyspnea or leg swelling.
The heart beats when electrical signals move through it. Ventricular fibrillation is a condition in which the heart's electrical activity becomes disordered. When this happens, the heart's lower (pumping) chambers contract in a rapid, unsynchronized way. (The ventricles "flutter" rather than beat.) The heart pumps little or no blood therefore the probability of death is high.
Sudden cardiac death in young athletes was first reported in 1980s and defined as cardiovascular event that occurred during physical activity or within hours of physical activity without awareness of underlying cardiac abnormalities. (Subasic p.18) As the years have gone by, sudden cardiac deaths have occurred more frequently then in the 1980s. Scientists have been researching why exactly athletes suffer from cardiac arrest, and still most scientists haven’t found a clear and direct reason on why they occur. Although initially reported in the United States in the early 1980s, the causes of sudden death in ...