Answer To: Assessment details Assessment 2: Case study essay Weighting: 40% Word count: There is a word limit...
Dr. Saloni answered on Apr 03 2022
A Case Study of Kath Harris
Contents
Introduction 3
Pathophysiology 3
Risk Factor 4
Management 4
Medication for Ml 6
Aspirin 6
Atorvastatin 6
Heparin 7
Conclusion 7
References 9
Introduction
The Keith Harris, a 65-year-old woman, is hospitalised with acute myocardial infarction. She has a history of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and unstable angina. She has a BMI of 32 and is presently obese. She has been a cigarette smoker who has been smoking for a long time (2 packets per day for the last 40 years). Her current medications are GTN, Metformin, and Carvedilol. Moreover, myocardial ischemia develops whenever the coronary artery is blocked partially or completely due to plaque development, preventing blood supply to the myocardium (Scalone et al., 2019). The aetiology of her myocardial infarction, as well as its management and pharmacology, will be discussed in this paper.
Pathophysiology
Reduced or full suspension of blood supply to a region of the heart causes myocardial infarction (MI), sometimes referred to as a heart attack. The majority of myocardial infarctions are caused by coronary artery disease. Acute myocardial infarction could occur when one or more big endocardial coronary arteries are occluded for more than twenty to thirty minutes. The blockage is frequently thrombotic and occurs when a wedge in the coronary arteries ruptures (Saleh & Ambrose, 2018). Because there is a paucity of oxygenation in the heart, sarcolemma breakdown and myofibril relaxing occur. The active necrosis of cardiac tissue happens as a consequence of persistent ischemia. Heart function is weakened based on which part of the heart is damaged by the infarction.
Myocardial ischemia is caused by a mismatch in oxygen delivery and can progress to myocardial infarction. Hypo-perfusion complaints are identified using the patient's condition, electrocardiographic results, and increased serum indicators (Scalone et al., 2019). Keith's oxygen saturation is low at 91%. Chest pain, upper-limb distress, and epigastric discomfort might develop throughout exercise or at rest due to myocardial infarction, as in Keith's case. The epigastric discomfort might cause the patient to become nauseous, which is the case with Keith. Her chest pain ranges from 6/10 on the pain scale. Dyspnea and tiredness, which are ischemic counterparts, can also be symptoms of myocardial injury, as observed in Keith's case. She is distressed and fatigued as well. A lower BP, increased heart rate, and respiratory rate are the body's mechanisms of compensating for the low perfusion at the body tissue levels (Smit et al., 2020).
Risk Factor
In the case of Kath, risk factors for developing coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction include chronic smoking, abnormal lipid profile, history of diabetes and hypertension, obesity, lack of physical activity, and alcohol consumption as well. In Keith's case, she has all the relevant risk factors contributing to her coronary artery syndrome, such as obesity (BMI of 32), lipid abnormalities- cholesterol of 7.95 (high), HDL of 2.1 (low), and triglycerides of 6.5 (high) as well. Diabetes and hypertension also contribute to increasing the stress on the heart muscle. The clot formation is supported by an unhealthy diet, obesity, lack of physical activity, and smoking. This blockage leads to ischemic injury and infarction (Rathore et al., 2018).
Management
Acute coronary syndrome can be defined as a range of illnesses that are associated with the onset of reduced blood flow. The most common factor leading to this condition is the breakdown of clots within arteries, restricting blood flow (Bonin et al., 2018). Common signs include chest...