Angina pectoris

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Angina pectoris

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Questions

USMLE® Step 1 style questions USMLE

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A 60-year-old man is brought to the emergency department due to chest pain that started suddenly 15 minutes ago while playing with his grandchildren. The patient describes the pain as “pressure and tightness” located in the center of his chest. The patient reports that he occasionally experiences mild chest discomfort when going up the stairs. Medical history is significant for a 30-pack-year smoking history, hypercholesterolemia, and hypertension. The patient is given a sublingual medication while in the emergency department, and the symptoms resolve within a few minutes. Which of the following sets of hemodynamic changes is most likely to be seen in this patient following the administration of this medication?  

*(-) decrease, (0) no effect, (+) increase  

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Acebutolol p. 244

angina and p. 324

Angina

aortic stenosis p. 296

atherosclerosis p. 305

cilostazol/dipyridamole for p. 442

cocaine causing p. 588

contraindicated drugs p. 324, 327

drug therapy for p. 323, 324, 361

glycoprotein IIb/IIa inhibitors for p. 442

ischemic disease and p. 308

presentation p. 722

unstable/NSTEMI treatment p. 314

Intestinal angina p. 393

Angina pectoris

β -blockers for p. 245

Atherosclerosis p. 305

stable angina with p. 308

β -blockers p. 245

angina p. 324

Calcium channel blockers p. 323

angina p. 323

“Intestinal angina p. 393

myocardial O2 consumption/demand p. 290

angina treatment p. 324

Nitroglycerin p. 323

angina p. 308

Stable angina p. 308

Triptans p. 562

angina and p. 308

Variant angina p. 308

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Angina comes from the latin angere, which means to strangle, and pectoris comes from pectus, meaning chest—so angina pectoris loosely translates to “strangling of the chest”, which actually makes a lot of sense, because angina pectoris is caused by reduced blood flow which causes ischemia to the heart muscle, or lack of oxygen to the heart, almost like the heart’s being strangled which causes terrible chest pain.

Stable angina or chronic angina is the most common type of angina and it usually happens when the patient has greater than or equal to 70% stenosis, meaning 70% of the artery is blocked by plaque buildup.

This small opening that blood flows through might be enough to supply the heart during rest, but if the body demands more blood and oxygen, like during exercise or stressful situations, the heart has to work harder, and therefore needs more blood and oxygen itself.

It’s during these time of exertion or emotional stress that people with stable angina have chest pain, since the blood flow isn’t meeting the metabolic demands of the heart muscle, or myocardium.

But the pain usually goes away with rest.

In the majority of cases, the underlying cause of stable angina is atherosclerosis of one or more the coronary arteries—arteries supplying blood to the heart muscles.

Other heart conditions that might lead to stable angina are ones that cause a thickened heart muscle wall, which would require more oxygen.

This increase in muscle size can be due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from a genetic cause, or as a result from the heart having to pump against higher pressures, as is the case in aortic stenosis, which is a narrowing of the aortic valve, or hypertension.

These larger, thicker heart muscles require more oxygen, and if the patients can’t meet increasing demands, they feel pain in the form of angina.

Whatever the case, the heart needs blood, and if we look at the heart wall, there’s three layers—the outermost layer, the epicardium, then the myocardium in the middle, and the endocardium inside the heart.

Sources

  1. "Robbins Basic Pathology" Elsevier (2017)
  2. "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Twentieth Edition (Vol.1 & Vol.2)" McGraw-Hill Education / Medical (2018)
  3. "Pathophysiology of Disease: An Introduction to Clinical Medicine 8E" McGraw-Hill Education / Medical (2018)
  4. "Pathogenesis of angina pectoris" PubMed (1982)
  5. "Unstable angina pectoris: Pathogenesis and management" Current Problems in Cardiology (1989)
  6. "Management of Chronic Stable Angina" Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America (2017)
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