Cardiac Practice Question
Mr. K is a middle-aged man who
complains of fatigue. His systolic blood pressure is high, but his
diastolic blood pressure is very low.
Pulses in his legs are very weak, as if there is little blood flow to
the lower half of his body. His breath
sounds are normal. When you listen to
his heart, you hear an abnormal second heart sound, and the doctor decides to
inject a dye to follow the path of blood through his heart.
The
dye shows that blood is moving from the aorta back into the left ventricle
during diastole. Mr. K’s
lab values have come back and they show that he has high renin and aldosterone
levels, slightly low blood K+, and a high hematocrit.
Is his heart normal? If not, what is abnormal about it? How does the abnormality relate to th heart sounds? What has caused his high systolic blood pressure? Why are his blood K+ low and his hematocrit high?