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Case Study Mr. Thomas Acute Myocardial Infarction

Decent Essays

1. What is the common name for Mr. Thomas’ condition? Look this condition up in a reference source and include a short description of it.

- Mr. Thomas’ has been diagnosed with an acute myocardial infarction (MI). A myocardial infarction is an “infarct of heart muscle caused by occlusion of one or more of coronary arteries” (Frucht, 2012 P.125). The common name for Mr. Thomas’ condition is a heart attack. A heart attack occurs if the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a section of heart muscle suddenly becomes blocked ( ). If the blood flow is not restored quickly, then that section of the heart muscle begins to die. Heart attacks have become the leading killer of both men and women in the United States. The main cause of heart attacks has …show more content…

Thomas’ chief complaint was a persistent, crushing chest pain that radiates to his left arm, jaw, neck, and shoulder blade. He also described the pain as a squeezing sensation around his heart. The medical term for this patient’s chief complaint is angina pectoris. Angina pectoris is the medical term for the chest pain or discomfort due to coronary heart disease.

3. List and define each of the patient’s additional symptoms in your own words. These terms appear
In other chapters of your textbook.

- Mr. Thomas’ additional symptoms included nausea and dysnea. Nausea is when a person’s stomach wants to empty itself, so a person gets the urge and sensation to vomit. Now, when it comes to dysnea it is when a person has difficulty breathing. Dysnea is the unpleasant or uncomfortable breathing sensation a patients gets.

4. Mr. Thomas does not have hypertension. According to your textbook, what is the blood pressure that is usually considered high?

- Hypertension (HTN) is, “blood pressure above normal range” (Frucht, 2012 P.124). Mr. Thomas’ does not have hypertension, however, according to the textbook the blood pressure that is usually considered high is systolic pressure above 140 mmHg or diastolic pressure above 90

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