Veins and Arteries

 From staying in one position too long

o Muscle contraction helps blood get back to heart thru veins
o Veins have high compliance
 Don’t snap back to force blood up
o Blood “pools”
 Veins become too full
o Can’t accept more blood from capillaries
o Capillaries filling up, so plasma rushes out into tissues
o Causes
 Drop in arterial blood pressure
 Blood not making it back to lungs to recirculate
 Result
o Syncope
 “Fainting”
o Drop in arterial blood pressure causes not enough blood to get to brain
 Veins need pressure from arterial blood flow to keeping moving
 Not enough oxygen to feed brain tissue

Edema

 Blood pooling in tissues

 Backflow of blood

Heart Chambers
 Caused by
o Weakening of heart chambers
o Weakening of heart valves
 Types
 o Right sided heart failure
 Causes:
 Peripheral Edema
o Left sided heart failure
 Causes
 Cardiogenetic Pulmonary Edema
 Edema within Heart
o Pulmonary Edema
 “Congestive Heart Failure”
 Back up of fluid in lungs
 Result of
 Left sided heart failure
o Left Ventricle stops pumping efficiently
o Blood pools in lung’s alveoli

o Peripheral Edema
 Back up of fluid in limbs
 Result of
 Right sided heart failure
 Right Atria and Ventricle weakened
 Blood from veins backs up, not getting pumped adequately into right
chambers
 Arrythmia
o Abnormal rhythm of heartbeat

Blood Pressure

 Hypertension
 o Systolic and Diastolic pressures too high
o Results from:
 Plaque Accumulation (Atherosclerosis)

o Atherosclerosis
o Accumulation of soft masses or fatty material (cholesterol) beneath artery linings
 “Plaques”
o Plaques
 Interfere with blood flow
 Narrow vessel
o Over time
 Can rupture blood vessel
 If plaque ruptures, it will damage tissue further
 Platelets come to form a clot in the artery wall
 Causing
 Blood Clot
Blood Clots
o Complete blocking of an artery
o Result of
 Hypertension (plaque accumulation)
o Types
 Thrombus
 Embolus
 Thromboembolism
 Infarction
o Thrombus
o Stationary blood clot
o Embolus
o Dislodged blood clot
o Starts to move along with blood
o Thromboembolism
o Embolus on the move gets lodged in another vessel it is traveling through
o Most dangerous when
 Lodge in a vessel supplying a vital organ
 Heart
 Lungs
 Brain
o One type
 Pulmonary Thromboembolism
 Major lung artery blocked
 Causes
o Angina
 o Shortness of breath
 Angina
o Chest pain- due to heart not receiving enough oxygen
o Infarction
o Blood vessel entirely blocked by either thrombus or embolus
o Causes
 Tissue death in area vessel supplies
o Myocardial Infarction
 “Heart Attack”
 Portion of heart muscle dies
 From
o Lack of oxygen

o Heart Attack Indicators

o Light headedness
o Numbness in Limbs
o Cold Sweat
o Trouble breathing
o Nausea
o Fatigue
o Appetite loss
o Andina Pectoris
 Radiating pain in the left arm
 When a coronary artery partially blocked from plaque

Common Signs of Poor Circulation

 Fatigue
 Numb, swollen, cold – Feet or hands
 Digestion issues
 Muscle cramps
  Memory loss
 Skin color changes

Medical Treatment of Blood Clots

o Solutions
o Intravenous drugs
o Surgery
o Prevention
o Anticoagulant (aspirin)

Intravenous Drugs
o Streptokinase
o T- PA
o Streptokinase
o Normally produced by
 Bacteria
o Action
 Converts plasminogen into
 Plasmin (enzyme)
 Dissolves blood clot
o T- PA
o Genetically engineered
o Action
 Converts plasminogen into
 Plasmin (enzyme)
 Dissolves blood clot
Surgery
o Angioplasty
 o Surgeon threads a plastic tube with “balloon” at tip
o Threaded into:
 Leg Artery
 Arm Artery
o Tube guided through vessel to
 Heart
o In the Heart
 Tube pushed until reaches clog in Coronary Artery
o At Coronary Artery
 Balloon at tip of tube inflates
 Forces the vessel open

o Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

o Take segment of another vessel
 Stitch one end of vessel to
 Aorta
 Stitch other end of vessel to
 Coronary Artery
 Past the point of obstruction
o Lasers
 Used to open other clogged coronary vessels
 After heart is exposed from by pass surgery