Cardiovascular System Case Study John is an 18-year-old male that woke up in the
ID: 3513632 • Letter: C
Question
Cardiovascular System Case Study
John is an 18-year-old male that woke up in the middle of the night, attempted to stand up and passed out. He hit his desk on the way down and got a large laceration on the back of his head. He called 911 for assistance. You show up with the other paramedics and find him lying on the floor. You ask him if he is taking any medication. John gestures weakly to his nightstand. You examine the bottles of pills there and find two ACE inhibitors and one beta blocker. You take his blood pressure and find it to be 90/50. You administer fluid IV while on route to the emergency room. But John’s blood pressure continued to decline and by the time the ambulance reached the hospital his blood pressure is 60/40 and he is barely conscious.
A.) Why did the fluid IV fail to bring John’s blood pressure up? There could be at least two reasons here.
Explanation / Answer
ANSWER:
The pressure exerted by the blood on the walls of the intimal layers of the arteries is called as blood pressure and it is on an average 120/80 mm of Hg.and it varies with age.
When this pressure increase beyond the normal average range it is called as HYPERTENSION and when the pressure decreases below the normal levels it is called as HYPOTENSION.
AETIOLOGY FOR HYPOTENSION:
1.Arrhythmias
2.Myocardial defects
3.Inflammation of the pericardium
4.Brady cardia
5.Pulmonary embolism
6.ACE inhibitors and BETA blockers.
John who is an 18 year old boy using ACE Inhibitors and beta blockers might have gone in to hypotensive state where he feel dyspnic and woke up from the bed where he suffered with orthostatic hypotension.
ACE inhibitors and beta blockers are the medications geneerally used for heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias.It states that he is already a cardiac patient and when he hit the desk and had a laceration on his head , he might be at risk of hypovolemic shock which is very gross in his condition as he is a cardiac patient.
1.Drug toxicity might be one of the cause for his severe hypotension even after replaced with IV fluids.As he took ACE inhibitors and Beta blockers before the incidence.These medications generally dilate the capillaries so as to bring the blood pressure low , which causes the blood to pool in the peripheries and restrict the cardiac return causing decreased blood flow to the heart and heart is not getting enough blood to pump and it is lacking oxygenated blood for its funcitoning.
2.Cardiac failure the other reason as his heart is not getting enough blood for its functioning due to bleeding,due to hypovolemic shock and cardiac arrhythmias.