Pathophysiology and Cardiovascular Concepts Flashcards

Comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering basic cellular concepts, mechanisms of cellular injury, adaptations, general pathophysiology principles, and cardiovascular diseases.

Automaticity

The unique ability of specialized cardiac cells to spontaneously initiate an electrical impulse without external nervous stimulation.

Frank-Starling Law

The cardiac physiological principle stating that an increase in myocardial muscle fiber stretch results in an increased force of contraction up to a physiological limit.

Laplace Law

The physical principle stating that wall tension in a cardiac chamber is proportional to the size and internal pressure of the vessel or ventricle.

Cardiac Output

The volume of blood pumped by the heart per minute, calculated using the equation $\text{CO} = \text{HR} \times \text{SV}$.

Mean Arterial Pressure

The average pressure within the arterial system throughout a single cardiac cycle, calculated as $\text{MAP} = \frac{\text{SBP} + 2 \times \text{DBP}}{3}$.

Hypertensive Crisis

A severe elevation in blood pressure categorized by a systolic blood pressure higher than $180\,\text{mmHg}$ and/or a diastolic blood pressure higher than $120\,\text{mmHg}$.

Virchow's Triad

The triad of primary factors that predispose a patient to thrombosis: hypercoagulability, vascular damage, and circulatory stasis.

Thrombus

An intravascular blood clot that remains attached to the interior wall of a blood vessel.

Embolus

A detached intravascular mass—such as a blood clot, fat, air, amniotic fluid, or foreign body—that travels through the bloodstream and obstructs a vessel.

Etiology

The underlying original cause or reason for the development of a cell alteration or disease process.

Pathognomonic Changes

Unique, definitive structural or functional manifestations that uniquely identify a specific disease presentation.

Atrophy

A cellular adaptation in which cells revert to a smaller size in response to reduced metabolic demand, disuse, or adverse environmental conditions.

Pathological Hypertrophy

An increase in individual cell size without a corresponding increase in supporting metabolic structures or capillary supply, such as left ventricular enlargement due to hypertension.

Hyperplasia

An adaptive increase in the total number of cells in a tissue or organ, occurring exclusively in cell populations capable of mitosis.

Metaplasia

The reversible adaptive replacement of one mature cell type by another cell type to better endure chronic stress or environmental irritation.

Dysplasia

Deranged cellular growth resulting in cells that vary in size, shape, and anatomical organization, frequently representing a precancerous state.

Apoptosis

A genetically programmed, highly organized process of cell death that degrades cellular components without triggering inflammation or injuring neighboring tissues.

Necrosis

Irreversible, unprogrammed cell death resulting from severe injury, characterized by plasma membrane disruption, cellular swelling, autolysis, and inflammatory response.

Anthracosis

An intracellular accumulation of carbon and coal dust particles within alveolar macrophages and lung parenchyma.

Xanthoma

A benign skin lesion caused by the focal intracellular accumulation of lipids within dermal macrophages.

Sodium-Potassium Pump

An active transport membrane mechanism requiring ATP that pumps $3\,\text{Na}^+$ ions out of the cell and $2\,\text{K}^+$ ions into the cell to maintain the electrochemical gradient.

Heterolysis

The breakdown and digestion of foreign, extracellular materials ingested by a cell's lysosomes.

Autolysis

Self-digestion of a cell caused by the uninhibited release of digestive enzymes from its own lysosomes following cell injury or death.

Tay-Sachs Disease

An inherited lysosomal storage disorder caused by a deficiency in a specific lysosomal enzyme, leading to fatal ganglioside accumulation in tissues.

Codon

A specific sequence of three adjacent nucleotides in messenger RNA ($\text{mRNA}$) that specifies a particular amino acid during translation.

Transcription

The cellular process in which a segment of nuclear DNA is unwound and copied into a complementary strand of messenger RNA ($\text{mRNA}$).

Homeostasis

The continuous physiological maintenance of a stable, dynamic internal environment despite changes in external conditions.

Epidemiology

The study of the causes, patterns, distribution, and determinants of health and disease states in specified human populations.

Incidence

The metric representing the number of newly identified or diagnosed cases of a disease in a specific population over a defined period.

Prevalence

The total cumulative number of active (both new and pre-existing) cases of a disease present in a defined population at a given point in time.

Prodromal Period

An early phase of a disease characterized by non-specific, generalized symptoms that herald the onset of full clinical manifestations.

Primary Prevention

Healthcare strategies and interventions directed at prohibiting the initial occurrence of a disease by removing etiology or altering susceptibility.

Atherosclerosis

A vascular disease process marked by endothelial injury, lipid deposition, smooth muscle proliferation, and fibrous plaque formation causing arterial narrowing.

Stable Angina

Predictable, temporary chest pain caused by fixed atherosclerotic obstruction during exertion or stress, which is readily relieved by rest or nitroglycerin.

Prinzmetal Angina

A form of atypical chest pain occurring at rest (often at night or early morning) caused by transient coronary artery vasospasm, accompanied by temporary ST-segment elevation.

Reduced Ejection Fraction

A classification of systolic heart failure (HFrEF) characterized by an ejection fraction of $\le 40\%$ .

Left-Sided Heart Failure

Failure of the left ventricle to pump blood forward effectively, leading to elevated pulmonary pressures, pulmonary edema, dyspnea, orthopnea, and crackles.

Right-Sided Heart Failure

Failure of the right ventricle to pump effectively to the lungs, resulting in systemic venous congestion manifested as peripheral edema, jugular vein distension ($\text{JVD}$), and hepatomegaly.

Paroxysmal Nocturnal Dyspnea

Episodes of severe sudden shortness of breath occurring at night that awaken a sleeping patient, caused by fluid redistribution in left-sided heart failure.