You are now required to use the diagnosis you selected for assignment 1 (eg. Angina), and explain a minimum of different 3 diagnostic findings that would be routinely discovered when confirming this diagnosis in hospital.
These may include the results you would expect from Medical Imaging (x-rays), Blood Tests or Urine Studies.
In 300 words or less, please describe the significance of each finding, linking it to the relevant pathophysiology of your chosen diagnosis.
Three possible diagnoses could include the following
• Sinus bradycardia
• Unstable angina
• Aortic regurgitation
Pulse is a reflection of heart beats and at rest it should be 60 to 80 beats per minute (British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 2009, p.12). Therefore, 55 beats per minute is considered to be lower than normal range. This indicates a problem with the pacemaker of the heart which is the sino atrial node and therefore indicating a possibility of sinus bradycardia (Rang, Dale, Ritter & Flower, 2007, p.21)
Underlying cause of sinus bradycardia determines its pathophysiology. Sinoatrial (SA) gets blocked when there is no uniform excitement of the atria by the SA node. This can be due to dysfunction of intrinsic nodal and therefore failing to propagate within the surrounding tissues (Rang et al., 2007, p. 38). Hence, lower pulse rate indicates less blood pumped which can influence the diastolic blood pressure. In this scenario, the diastolic blood pressure was 65 and the normal range is 80 and hence reduced pulse rate could have possibly lead to reduction of the blood pressure due to less blood volume is pumped within a given period of time (Campbell, & Sheldon, 2010, p.366). Reduced pulse rate and increased diastolic blood pressure could possibly result in shortness of breath and therefore the respiratory rate is 20 instead of being at a normal range of 12 to 16 breaths per minute (Rang et al., 2007, p. 45).
References:
British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 2009, British National Formulary, 58th ed. UK: BMJ Publishing Group.
Campbell, N.R. & Sheldon, T 2010, The Canadian effort to prevent and control hypertension: can other countries adopt Canadian strategies, Current Opinion in Cardiology, vol. 25, no.4, pp. 366-367.
Rang, HP, Dale, MM, Ritter, JM, Flower, RJ 2007, Rang and Dale’s Pharmacology, Churchill, Livingstone, Elsevier Limited, China