Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Essay

Heart muscle disease, also referred to as cardiomyopathy, often shows no or mild symptoms only. This allows the people having the condition to live a more normal life than their other heart counterparts. However, the symptoms may progress and worsen if the heart function worsens too.

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.

As this disease progresses and the workload of the heart is consistently increased, ventricular hypertrophy occurs. At first, the hypertrophied heart muscles will increase contractility, thus increasing cardiac output; however, as hypertrophy of the ventricular myocardial cells continues, it begins to have poor contractility, requires more oxygen to perform, and has poor circulation from the coronary arteries. This can result in heart tissue ischemia and lead into cardiac dysrhythmias (Lewis et al. 2014, 768).

With acute aortic insufficiency, pulse pressure widens as the valve deteriorates. Signs and symptoms may include a bounding pulse, atrial and ventricular gallops, chest pain, palpitations, pallor, crackles, dyspnea, and jugular vein distention, may also be present.

Should student get screen for heart disease before athletics? Sadly In today’s society, student athletes are dying of heart attacks, at an early age. Which is why student athletes should be required to get screened for heart disease. When the individual gets a screening, they should take both popular diagnostic tests, such as the electrogram (EKG) and the echocardiography (ECHOS). Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in young athletes (Drezner at al., 2007). SCA in young athletes is not only a concern for the medical community, but also for the community’s at large. SCA occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to stop beating. Approximately 1 in 220,000 youthful student competitors experience sudden cardiac death (SCD) every year (baggish et al., 2010). Athletes are known to be some of the healthiest people in society, however SCD while being active in sports is odd, its manifestation is universally recorded in the media, caused by the age and health conditions of the athlete. The latest events in many parts of the world show that congestive heart failure of student athletes is still a reality and it keeps challenging experts in cardiology that take care of student athletes (Ferreira et al., 2010). It has come to mind that some easy pre-participation screening, adding a physical, electrocardiograms (ECG/EKG) additionally gathering

Fackelmann, Kathleen. "Flaws of the heart; sudden death in athletes is often caused by cardiac defects." Science News 3 Aug. 1996: 76+. Academic OneFile. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

In cardiomyopathy the heart muscle becomes enlarged, thick or rigid, and in rare cases the muscle tissue can be replaced with scar tissue. As this disease worsens, the heart becomes weaker and unable to pump blood normally through the body and maintain a normal electrical rhythm. This can lead to heart failure or irregular heartbeats. The weakening of the heart also can lead to other problems such as heart valve problems. Cardiomyopathy can be acquired or inherited. It can affect people of all ages. There are various types of cardiomyopathy includes, hypertrophic, dilated, restrictive cardiomyopathy, Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia and unclassified cardiomyopathy. Some people with cardiomyopathy will never have any signs and symptoms. But in some people the signs and symptoms will develop in the early stages of the disease. As cardiomyopathy worsens and the heart weakens, signs and symptoms of heart failure usually occur. The signs and symptoms of cardiomyopathy includes, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, especially with physical exertion, fatigue, swelling in the ankles, feet, legs, abdomen, and veins in the neck. Other signs and symptoms may include dizziness, light-headedness, fainting during physical activity, irregular heartbeats, chest pain, especially after physical exertion or heavy meals, and heart murmurs. The treatment of cardiomyopathy include lifestyle changes, medicines, surgery, implanted devices to correct arrhythmias (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,

Systolic heart failure results from the inability of the cardiac muscle to contract effectively from inadequate cardiac output. As the cardiac output drops, compensatory mechanisms to try to restore its function through takes place by ventricular remodeling. During this remodeling phase, the heart begins to develop changes in its size and becomes hypertrophic that results in a decreased ability of the heart to contract, decreased available oxygen, and available ATP. Secondly, this hypertrophic states increases preload that results

As cardiomyopathy progresses, the heart becomes weaker and is less able to pump blood normally. This results in heart failure. There are different types of cardiomyopathy- hypertrophic, dilated, and restrictive. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy occurs when the heart muscle cells enlarge which causes the thickening of the left ventricular wall. Although the ventricle size stays normal, the thickening makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. In some cases, the septum also thickens and expands to the left ventricle which causes a blockage of blood flow out of the left ventricle. The cause of the disease is unknown but hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is usually caused by changes in the genes in heart muscle proteins. It can also develop due to

Risk for having CAD or established CAD, previous MI or heart failure with decreased ejection fraction and ventricular arrhythmias are the known risk factors for SCD[17, 136]. The estimated incidence rate of SCD in infants, children, adolescents, and young adults is about 1.3 to 8.5 per 100,000 patient/years [137] but it still costs to thousands life per year. Sudden infant death syndrome accounting for approximately 10% of the crib death is believed to be due to cardiac arrhythmia or long QT syndrome [138]. A study suggest that out of 158 deaths of American athletes, 30% were due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and 13% due to abnormal blood circulation, 10% due to increased cardiac mass due to cardiomyopathy [139]. Another study suggest 20% death due to CAD and 10% deaths due to right ventricular cardiomyopathy/ dysplasia in young population [140]. Patients suffering from SCD with normal heart or without any cardiac disease history, on autopsy show structural abnormalities. Sudden unexplained deaths are also a major concern in epidemiology of SCD and careful post-mortem and histological examination can play a vital role [17]. In a study with 270 autopsies 55 were found to have structural heart disease and a specific cause for death were found in 180 cases with 65% having CAD, 14% with congenital anomalies and 11% with myocarditis. Left

The wide receiver catches the football and immediately drops to the ground, unconscious. This is exactly how unexpected sudden cardiac arrest is in adolescents. The reported incidence of pediatric sudden cardiac death ranges from 0.8 to 6.2 cases per 100,000 children in the United States every year (Berger, Kugler, Thomas, and Friedberg 1201). Approximately 20-25% of the deaths occur during sports (Gajewski and Saul 107). “Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. If this happens, blood stops flowing to the brain and other vital organs (“What is Sudden Cardiac Arsrest?”).” Sudden cardiac death, or SCD, usually occurs “within one hour of onset symptoms

The aim of this essay is to explore an acute deterioration in the health of an adult I have encountered during a clinical placement, in an acute care setting. The essay will begin with a definition of acute care, followed by the introduction of my patient and predisposing factors. This essay will include an explanation of the significant pathophysiological changes and related clinical manifestations and a critical analysis of the nursing interventions implemented during the acute episode of care, focusing on holistic care, rationale and evidence base. It will then describe the actual deterioration in the patient’s condition, and discuss the nurse’s role in the recognition and assessment of the actual deteriorating condition following the

Different cardiovascular diseases have been proven as a known causes of sudden death in young competitive athletes. Most of these deaths occur on the athletic field during training or competition. Each of the diseases is known to cause sudden death in nonathletes. “Sudden death in people under age 35, often due to hidden heart defects or overlooked heart abnormalities, is rare. When these sudden deaths do occur, it’s often during physical activity, such as participating in a sporting event. Sudden death attracts much public and attention because of its visible and tragic nature”(Sudden cardiac arrest). They are a lot of student-athletes that had passed away due to heart disease. A lot of people

According to the US Census Bureau, population estimates in 2004, in the United States it is estimated that approximately .02% of the population is effected by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Which is two in

In addition, scientists have found that genetics also plays a role in cardiac arrhythmias and that in some cases patients have commented that they had no symptoms before they succumbed to some form of episode of cardiac distress, like a sudden heart attack. This has proven to be standard for many different forms of arrhythmias, whether it’s due to genetics or not. One such case is the long QT syndrome (LQTS) which is estimated to affect one in every 5000 people and is recognized as a family disorder, frequent in children during their childhood years (Wilde, and Bezzina 1352–1358.) Patients with this disorder can have symptoms of a fluttering heartbeat, shortness of breath, and chest pain, while other patients might not experience any symptoms at all (Wilde, and Bezzina 1352–1358.) Another known disorder is cardiac conduction disease, which is mostly due to some form of cardiac injury (Wilde, and Bezzina 1352–1358.) Symptoms for this