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Paramedic Care
Cardiac
Question | Answer |
---|---|
aberrant conduction | an abnormal conduction of the electrical impulse through the heart's conductive system |
absolute refractory period | period of the cardiac cycle when stimulation will not produce any depolarization |
action potential | stimulation of myocardial cells that subsequently spreads across the myocardium |
acute arterial occlusion | sudden occlusion of arterial blood flow |
acute coronary syndrome (ACS) | spectrum of coronary artery disease processes from myocardial ischemia and myocardial injury to myocardial infarction |
acute pulmonary embolism | blockage that occurs when a blood clot or other particle lodges in a pulmonary artery |
afterload | resistance against which the heart must pump |
anastomosis | communication b/w two or more vessels |
aneurysm | dilation of a blood vessel |
angina pectoris | chest pain that results when the heart's oxygen requirements exceed oxygen supply available from blood |
arrhythmia | any deviation from the normal electrical rhythm of the heart |
arteriosclerosis | progressive, degenerative disease of the midsize and large arteries |
augmented leads | another term for unipolar limb leads, reflecting the fact that the ground lead is disconnected, which increases the amplitude of deflection of the ECG tracing |
automaticity | pacemaker cells' capability of self-depolarization |
bipolar leads | electrocardiogram leads applied to the arms and legs that contain two electrodes of opposite polarity (positive and negative) |
bradycardia | heart rate less than 60 bpm |
bruit | sound of turbulent flood flow through a vessel |
bundle branch block | kind of interventricular heart block in which conduction through either the right or left bundle branch is blocked or delayed |
bundle of Kent | an accessory AV conduction pathway that is thought to be responsible for ECG findings of preexcitation syndrome |
cardiac arrest | absence of ventricular contraction |
cardiac cycle | period of time from the end of one cardiac contraction to the end of the next |
cardiac depolarization | reversal of charges at a cell membrane so that the inside of the cell becomes positive in relation of the outside; opposite of the cell's resting state |
cardiac output | amount of blood pumped by the heart in one minute |
cardiac tamponade | accumulation of excess fluid inside the pericardium |
cardiogenic shock | inability of the heart to meet the metabolic needs of the body, resulting in inadequate perfusion |
cardiovascular disease (CVD) | disease affecting the heart, peripheral blood vessels, or both |
chronotrophy | pertaining to heart rate |
claudication | severe pain in the calf muscle due to inadequate blood supply |
compensatory pause | pause following an ectopic beat where the SA node is unaffected and the cadence of the heart is uninterrupted |
conductivity | ability of the cells to propagate the electrical impulse from one cell to another |
congestive heart failure (CHF) | condition in which the heart's reduced stroke volume causes an overload of fluid in the body's other tissues |
contractility | ability of muscle cells to contract, or shorten |
coronary artery disease (CAD) | type of CVD; single largest killer of Americans |
corrected QT | QT interval divided by the square root of the RR interval |
coupling interval | distance b/w the preceding beat and the PVC |
current of injury (injury current) | the flow of current b/w the pathologically depolarized area of myocardial injury and the normally depolarized areas of the myocardium |
cystic medial necrosis | death or degeneration of a part of an artery wall |
deep venous thrombosis | a blood clot in a vein |
defibrillation | process of passing an electrical current through a fibrillating heart to depolarize a critical mass of myocardial cells |
diastole | period of time when the myocardium is relaxed and cardiac filling and coronary perfusion occur |
dissecting aortic aneurysm | aneurysm caused when blood gets b/w and separates the layers of the aortic wall |
downtime | duration from the beginning of the cardiac arrest until effective CPR is established |
dromotrophy | pertaining to the speed of impulse transmission |
ectopic beat | cardiac depolarization resulting from depolarization of ectopic focus |
ectopic focus | nonpacemaker heart cell that automatically depolarizes |
Einthoven's triangle | triangle around the heart formed by the bipolar limb leads |
ejection fraction | ratio of blood pumped from the ventricle to the amount remaining at the end of diastole |
electrocardiogram (ECG) | graphic recording of the heart's electrical activity |
excitability | ability of the cells to respond to an electrical stimulus |
heart failure | clinical syndrome in which the heart's mechanical performance is compromised so that cardiac output cannot meet the body's needs |
hypertensive emergency | an acute elevation of blood pressure that requires the blood pressure to be lowered w/in 1 hour |
hypertrophy | stretching; enlargement w/o any additional cells |
indeterminate axis | a calculated axis of the heart's electrical energy from -90 to -180 degrees |
induced therapeutic hypothermia (ITH) | practice of cooling survivors of cardiac arrest in the immediate post resuscitation period |
inotrophy | pertaining to cardiac contractile force |
intercalated discs | specialized bands of tissue inserted b/w myocardial cells that increase the rate in which the action potential is spread from cell to cell |
interpolated beat | PVC that falls b/w two sinus beats w/o effectively interrupting this rhythm |
left axis deviation | calculated axis of the heart's electrical energy that equals or exceeds -30 degrees |
limb leads | augmented leads; bipolar leads; unipolar leads |
myocardial infarction (MI) | death and subsequent necrosis of the heart muscle caused by inadequate blood supply |
myocardial injury | injury to the myocardium typically following myocardial ischemia that results from loss of blood and oxygen supply |
myocardial ischemia | deprivation of oxygen and other nutrients to the myocardium, causing abnormalities in repolarization |
myoglobin | similar to hemoglobin, it is released into circulation when skeletal or cardiac muscle is damaged |
noncompensatory pause | pause following an ectopic beat where the SA node is depolarized and the underlying cadence of the heart is interrupted |
normal sinus rhythm | normal heart rhythm |
paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (PND) | sudden episode of difficult breathing that occurs after lying down |
peripheral arterial atherosclerotic disease | progressive degenerative disease of the midsize and large arteries |
Poiseuille's law | law of physiology stating that flood flow through a vessel is directly proportional to the radius of the vessel to the fourth power |
precordial (chest) leads | electrocardiogram leads applied to the chest in a patter than permits a view of the horizontal plane of the heart, leads V1-V6 |
preload | pressure w/in the ventricles at the end of diastole; commonly called end-diastolic volume |
Prinzmetal's angina | variant of angina pectoris caused by vasospasm of the coronary arteries |
prolonged QT interval | QT greater than 0.44 sec |
pulmonary embolism (PE) | blood clot in one of the pulmonary arteries |
QRS axis | reduction of all the heart's electrical forces to a single vector represented by an arrow moving in a single plane |
QT interval | period from the beginning of the QRS to the end of the T wave |
reciprocal | mirror image seen typically on the opposite wall of the injured area |
refractory period | period of time when myocardial cells have not yet completely repolarized and cannot by stimulated again |
relative refractory period | period of the cardiac cycle when a sufficiently strong stimulus may produce depolarization |
repolarization | return to a muscle cell to its preexcitation resting state |
resting potential | normal electrical state of cardiac cells |
resuscitation | provision of efforts to return a spontaneous pulse and breathing |
return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) | resuscitation results in the patient's having a spontaneous pulse |
rhythm strip | electrocardiogram printout |
right axis deviation | a calculated axis of the heart's electrical energy that equals or exceeds +105 degrees |
Starling's law of the heart | law of physiology stating that the more the myocardium is stretched, the more forceful the contraction will be |
stroke volume | amount of blood ejected by the heart in one cardiac contraction |
subendocardial infarction | myocardial infarction that affects only the deeper levels of the myocardium |
sudden death | death w/in 1 hour after onset of symptoms |
survival | when a patient is resuscitated and survives to be discharged from the hospital |
synchronized cardioversion | the passage of an electric current through the heart during a specific part of the cardiac cycle to terminate certain kinds of dysrhythmias |
syncytium | group of cardiac muscle cells that physiologically function as a unit |
systole | period of the cardiac cycle when the myocardium is contracting |
tachycardia | rapid heart rate greater than 100 bpm |
total downtime | duration from the beginning of the arrest until the patient's delivery to the emergency department |
transmural infarction | myocardial infarction that affects the full thickness of the myocardium and almost always results in a pathological Q wave in the affected leads |
unipolar leads | electrocardiogram leads applied to the arms and legs, consisting of one polarized electrode and a nonpolarized reference point that is created by the ECG machine combining two additional electrodes |
varicose veins | dilated superficial veins, usually in lower extremities |
vasculitis | inflammation of blood vessels |
vector | a force that has both magnitude and direction |