Question

AHS 2013 Medical Terminology Cardiovascular System Case Study Module 4 Assignment

SW presents to her primary care physician with complaints of episodes of chest discomfort. She is a 62-year-old divorced mother of two who has been suffering from increasing chest discomfort for the past 1-2 years. At first she only noticed the discomfort when she experienced extreme exertion, such as running for the bus, and these symptoms always promptly resolved when she stopped or slowed down. She attributed this to no more than "getting old" and "being out of shape." About 6-9 months ago, she noted that the chest pain episodes had become more frequent, occurring perhaps once or twice per week and precipitated by stress, either physical (walking up and down stairs at home with the laundry) or mental (especially after a day's work at her job in a government office), but again always resolved with rest. When the chest discomfort episodes began to occur more than once per week, she was persuaded to visit her primary care physician. Medical History SW is overweight (5'5" height; 174 lb) and smoked cigarettes 1 pack/day for 15 years, although she managed to taper off and completely stopped about 5 years ago. She drinks a "very occasional" glass of wine. She admits to having a "poor diet" consisting of high-salt, high-fat foods, with few fresh vegetables or fruits, but reports that she takes multivitamins to compensate for her poor diet. She has a history of hypertension (blood pressure, 160/92 mm Hg), which was diagnosed in her late 40s, and she has been relatively adherent to a prescription of enalapril 10 mg and "a diuretic" for the last 10+ years. Dyslipidemia (total cholesterol, 215 mg/dL; LDL, 138 mg/dL; HDL, 35 mg/dL) was diagnosed during a clinic visit 2 years ago; she takes lovastatin 10 mg daily "when she remembers." The patient has never been seen by a cardiologist or had an echocardiogram or stress test. ECG completed today shows normal sinus rhythm. Chest x-ray shows no cardiomegaly. Family History SW's father had a fatal MI at age 64, and her mother died at age 68 of lung disease, which motivated the patient to stop smoking. She has a younger sister, age 58, who is also overweight and taking medications for hypertension and abnormal blood cholesterol.

Answer the following questions related to SW’s physician appointment.

1. What does a “diuretic” do? How does it help her hypertension?

2. What is the medical abbreviation for hypertension?

3. What instrument is used to take her blood pressure?

4. What is the definition of dyslipidemia?

5. Is her cholesterol low, normal, or high?

6. She has never had an echocardiogram. What type of procedure is this?

7. What type of procedure is a stress test? What does this involve?

8. What is an MI?

9. Name several risk factors contributing to SW’s problem.

10.Divide cardiologist into three word parts and give the meaning of each part.

11.What is an ECG? Divide the word into its word parts and give the meaning for each part.

12.Divide the word cardiomegaly into its word parts and give the meaning of each part.

13.What is the diagnosis?

14.What is the etiology (cause) of this condition?

15.Is there effective treatment for this disorder?

Answer 1

1. Diuretics remove extra water from the body. They help to relieve hypertension by removinf sodium and water from the body. In addition they also relax blood vessels and widen them to make the blood flow easy.

2.medical abbreviation for hypertension is HTN

3.sphygmomanometer is used to take bp

4.It is abnormal increase of blood cholestrol that may lead to heart disease in the form of atherosclerosis, coronary artery disease.

5.high

6.non invasive

7.Stress test is a bon invasive procedure. It helps to know the functioning of heart in situations creating stress like exercise etc.

8.It is myocardial infarction that means there is interrupted blood supply to heart muscles leading to irreversible heart muscle death .