125 Cardiovascular Health and Heart Medical Issues We ve learned a lot about how our cardiovascular systems function, and will now explore some common medical equipment and medical conditions connected with the cardiovascular system. You may choose one of the following topics: Stethoscopes and Valves Heart Rhythms and Arrhythmias Cholesterol, Surgery and Strokes Cyanotic Heart Defects (sometimes called blue baby syndrome ) You should work through the questions and activities within the topic you choose. Your group should then prepare a brief presentation to the class that helps to teach the class about your topic.
126 1) Stethoscopes and Valves Use the stethoscope to listen to your heartbeat. From the course website, choose the heart valves link Play the two animations. What exactly is happening to make the sound you hear? Be as specific as possible. Sometimes physicians can diagnose a heart murmur with a stethoscope. What do you think a heart murmur is? Choose the heart murmur information link and read about heart murmurs. Sometimes a physician uses a stethoscope to diagnose a specific murmur called a mitral valve prolapse, a fairly common problem. Based on what you know about the job of the mitral valve, what do you think mitral valve prolapse might involve? What do you think mitral valve prolapse might sound like through a stethoscope? Choose the mitral valve prolapse information link and read the information, paying attention to the diagrams. Choose the sound clip of Mitral Valve Prolapse link to hear what it sounds like this particular link is a medical school site, so don t get bogged down by the language pay attention to the sound. Finally, if you d like to hear sound clips of other kinds of heart murmurs, choose the final link in this section, sound clips of other heart murmurs.
127 2) Heart Rhythms and Arrhythmias Choose the Your heart s electrical system link. Play the animation to identify and describe the S-A Node the A-V Node and the His-Purkinje System. Next, click on the section of the website marked Electrical Signals and Blood Flow. Read through the page and enlarge Figure one. Figure one is an electrocardiogram. Also look at the real electrocardiogram display. What information does a physician get by conducting and reading an electrocardiogram? How do you think an abnormal electrocardiogram might appear different from a normal one? Play the animation called Start the Heart to see how the electrical signals in the heart correspond to the lines produced by an electrocardiogram (ECG). Use the Step Through feature to see how each step of a heartbeat corresponds to each part of the ECG.
Next, choose the Electrical problems link. Using the animations, determine what s different about a heart experiencing - Bradycardia 128 Tachycardia Atrial fibrillation Finally, some general information about causes, effects and treatments of arrhythmias can be found at the General Arrhythmias information link.
129 3) Cholesterol, Surgery and Strokes First, take a look at the heart model. Identify the four chambers of the heart, the aorta, the vena cava, the pulmonary veins and pulmonary arteries. Also notice the coronary veins and arteries on the surface of the heart. Next, look at the model to the right of the heart model. What is this model supposed to represent? Next, take a look at the surgical tools to the right. They relate to the model you just saw What do you think these tools are used for? Now choose the PreOp Patient Education Heart Stent Implant Angioplasty link. Watch the video. Briefly draw or describe a Stent Implant Angioplasty in your own words/pictures. A Stent Implant Angioplasty can thus be used to prevent a heart attack in a coronary artery that has cholesterol buildup. But what happens when problems like cholesterol buildup occur in the arteries of the brain?
Choose the Understanding Stroke video link and watch the video to learn about the different kinds of strokes. Ischemic - 130 Embolic Thrombotic Hemorrhagic - Intracerebral - Subarachnoid - Which specific kind of stroke seems most like a heart attack, except that it takes place in a brain artery and not in a coronary artery? Choose the Carotid Stenting Demonstration link and watch the video to see how this procedure can be used to help prevent strokes, much in the same way the other stenting procedure can be used to prevent heart attacks.
131 4) Cyanotic Heart Defects ( blue baby syndrome ) Choose the Partners of the Heart from PBS link. At this site you will learn about an amazing moment in medical history which occurred here in Baltimore. First, use the website to learn something about Vivien Thomas, Alfred Blalock and Helen Taussig On the first page of the site, choose the link called Partners Legacy. Then explore the Footprints through Time Flash program and read the biographies of Vivien Thomas, Alfred Blalock and Helen Taussig. What is important for us to know about Vivien Thomas Alfred Blalock Helen Taussig Go back to the main page on the site. Click on OPERATION at the bottom to learn about the surgical procedure pioneered at Hopkins by Alfred Blalock, Vivien Thomas and Helen Taussig. What are the four problems that occur when a child is born with Tetralogy of Fallot?
132 When you re ready, click on You Be The Surgeon. You will perform a Blalock- Taussig shunt. What happens when a Blalock-Taussig shunt is performed? Please also explore the other links on this site as well. You can learn a lot about Baltimore history by exploring Vivien s Baltimore on the site as well. Vivien Thomas Alfred Blalock Helen Taussig