I may have said this before, but I get weekly updates from Web MD's Medscape. I will just quote their own description to explain. "Medscape offers specialists, primary care physicians, and other health professionals the Web's most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools."
Many topics are in each alert that I receive and today I chose to read one on chest pain. The article was actually meant to help physicians determine when to refer a person to a specialist or an emergency room based on symptoms, history and clinical exam. While reading the article I came across many terms or conditions that were new or somewhat new to me. So the article had me searching the web for MORE info, I do enjoy doing that.
Here are some neat things that I learned.
Well, firstly, this as an article for physicians and I was very happy to see a section on lifestyle factors that said every patient should be advised to not smoke. It was said there that the number one most important and preventable risk factor for both heart attack and stroke is SMOKING.
The clinicians are encouraged to measure height and weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, pulse, check heart sounds and extremity pulses.. all this should be done before any blood work is ordered. One condition that came up here that was 100% new to me -
xanthelasma or tendon xanthomata : they are actually similar in meaning and I will tell you what they are, but I am going to post a link to some pictures as well and I would be surprised if that doesn't get your attention. These conditions are what doctors are told to look for on the body to indicate if the person has hyperlipidemia or high blood fats, including cholesterol. The xanthelamsa are puffy, oval like, yellow pockets of fat, just under the skin. They can be on the face or on tendons and ligaments. See below:
http://www.visualdxhealth.com/adult/xanthelasmaPalpebrarum.htm
p.s. I did not vet this website, so any health info should be validated by you!
Other terms that I learned more about today:
Angina is pain in the chest due to a lack of blood supply, but not considered fatal.
Aortic stenosis involves a valve that releases blood from the left ventricle of the heart into the aorta where it can then go to nourish the cells, tissues and organs of the body. In aortic stenosis the valve does not open all the way and blood can back up into the ventricle and lungs. It is not related to lifestyle.
HCOM or hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy is a combination of things really. Myopathy is any number of muscle diseases that affect proper functioning. Cardiomyopathy refers to a diseased heart muscle. You may have heard about atrophy.. meaning the wasting away of something, of muscles, like when you cannot use them. Hypertrophy is the opposite and in this case is an enlarged heart muscle. This is a dangerous condition and is said to be the main cause of instant cardiac death, often in athletes.
Substernal refers to behind the sternum. Doctors check for substernal pain when assessing angina.
Coronary Heart Disease is the same as coronary artery disease. The disease is marked by a lack of blood flow or decreased blood flow because the arteries are clogged and narrow and brittle. It is in large part due to lifestyle. CHD is the number one killer of both men and women in the USA.
And there was one thing that did not sit well with me. In addressing the issue of chest pain in a person with a risk of heart disease greater than 20 percent, an aspirin a day is recommended. (75mg) This is true and well researched, but these authors suggested that a PPI med be used if there was a high risk of stomach or gastric upset. OH NO... that was yesterday's post....
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