SRMC_Glossary

GLOSSARY

Angina: A severe constricting pain. When the cause is due to an underlying heart problem it is called angina pectoris.

Unstable angina: The appearance of angina in the absence of any aggravating factor, at rest.

Stable angina: The appearance of angina during exercise, even in its mild form such as eating.

Infarction: Death of any tissue due to a cut off of its blood supply secondary to an obstruction in the supplying vessel. When related to the heart its called myocardial infarction.

Tachycardia: An increase in the rate of beating of the heart (>100)

Bradycardia: A decrease in the rate of beating of the heart (< 60)

Heart block: A disorder arising due to defects in the generation or conduction of electrical impulses within the heart tissue.

Pacemaker: An instrument used to treat heart blocks. They may be temporary or permanent devices.

Thrombolysis: A procedure which uses certain medicines to unclog a vessel which has suddenly got blocked, thereby aiming at establishing a continuing blood supply to the heart muscle.

PTCA: A procedure which by the use of various types of wires and other material accesses blocks within a blood vessel and attempts to open them up.

Stenting: An add on procedure to PTCA which uses a spring like device to keep the blocked vessel open.

Doppler ECHO: Measurement of blood flow velocities is the heart and great vessels using an echocardiography machine working based on the Doppler Effect.

Radio frequency ablation: Removal of short circuiting electrical pathways which are present or develop abnormally within the electrical conduction system of the heart using radio frequency energy.

Defibrillation: A method of reversing or terminating life threatening abnormal heart rhythms by giving an external source of electrical energy directly over the chest wall.

Intracardiac defibrillation: Achieving defibrillation in patients suffering from chronically occurring abnormal rhythms by implantation of a instrument with permanently placed electrodes in the heart.

CABG: Surgery done to bypass blocked blood vessels of the heart using grafts (blood vessels taken from other parts of the body)

Stenosis: Narrowing of any orifice – maybe related to valves or blood vessels etc.

Regurgitation/ leak: Reversal of flow of blood due to incompetence of the valves of the heart.

Aorta: The largest blood vessel of the body arising from the left side of the heart and carrying pure (fully oxygenated) blood to all parts of the body.

Pulmonary artery: The blood vessel carrying impure blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs.

Pulmonary veins: The blood vessels that bring back the pure (oxygenated) blood from the lungs to the left side of the heart.

Atria: The two, right and left, upper chambers of the heart which receive blood from the body and lungs respectively.

Ventricles: The two, right and left, lower chambers of the heart which pump blood to the lungs and body respectively.

Mitral valve: The valve present between the atrium (upper heart chamber) and ventricle (lower heart chamber) on the left side of the heart.

Tricuspid valve: The valve present between the atrium (upper heart chamber) and ventricle (lower heart chamber) on the right side of the heart.

Aortic valve: The valve between the left ventricle and the aorta.

Pulmonary valve: The valve between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery.

LVF: Left ventricular failure – a condition (which can arise due to many reasons) where there is a reduction in the contractile function of the left ventricle leading to various complications.

CCF: Congestive cardiac failure – a condition wherein there is a reduction of contractile function of both left and right ventricles leading to various complications.

Diuretics: They are medications that remove excess fluids and minerals from the blood by stimulating the kidneys to produce more urine.

ß blockers: They are medications that reduce the stress on the heart by reducing the heart rate and also reducing the force of contraction of the heart. They also have an effect on the blood vessels by causing them to relax.

Ca2+ channel blockers: They are medications that prevent the flow of calcium ions needed for muscle contraction into the muscle cells of the heart and blood vessels, causing them to widen and relax. As a result, the heart and blood vessel walls relax which increases the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the heart, lowers blood pressure and reduces the heart's workload reducing anginal pain.

PT/INR: An INR/PT is a blood test that measures the time it takes for a person’s blood to clot. INR stands for international normalized ratio and PT stands for prothrombin time.

Hemoptysis: Coughing out of blood in the sputum.

Pulmonary edema: Accumulation of excessive amount of fluids within the lung tissue secondary to a left heart failure causing rise in the pressure in the pulmonary blood vessels.

PND: It is a condition which involves sudden onset of breathing difficulty 2 to 4 hours after the onset of sleep and usually accompanied by coughing wheezing and sweating. It occurs secondary to left ventricular failure.

Orthopnoea: Difficulty in breathing in the lying down position.

Atherosclerosis: It is a progressive condition characterized by deposition of lipids within the wall of the blood vessels predisposing to narrowing of these vessels and ultimately cutting off the blood supply to the tissues and organs they supply.

Plaque: A demarcated yellow area or swelling on the intimal surface of an artery produced by a lipid deposit.

Hypertension: It is an increase in the blood pressure of an individual in relation to an established normal range (acquired by comparison of large population of subjects by age, sex, race etc).

Hyperlipidemia: Presence of an abnormally higher level of total lipids in the body as compared to a normal range.

HDL cholesterol: It is a variety of cholesterol, which has a protective effect from coronary artery disease.

LDL cholesterol: It is a variety of cholesterol which is the predominant cause for atherosclerosis.

Systolic B.P: The higher measure of the recorded blood pressure peripherally which coincides with the phase of contraction of the heart.

Diastolic B.P: The higher measure of the recorded blood pressure peripherally which coincides with the phase of relaxation of the heart.

Palpitation: An uncomfortable awareness of ones own heart beat.

Syncope: An episode of loss of consciousness due to a cut off of blood supply to the brain arising as a result of a sudden fall in the blood pressure or failure of the timely contraction of the heart.

RHD: Rheumatic heart disease – It is a disorder which is a late manifestation of a untreated severe sore throat in children causing damage to the heart valves in adulthood.

IHD: Ischemic heart disease – A disorder arising due to insufficient blood supply to the heart, causing damage and changes to the structure and functioning of the heart muscle and its electrical conduction system lying within.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: A condition characterized by abnormal stiffness and thickening of the heart muscle which leads to impaired ventricular filling and further complications hence.

Myocardium: The middle layer of the heart consisting of the heart muscle.

Coronary artery: The blood vessels that run on the surface of the heart and supply the heart muscles.

Thallium imaging: It is a technique which uses the element Thallium-201 to image the heart to assess it’s functioning capability at different segmental areas and the level of benefit that can be achieved if there is a plan to revascularize the heart muscle by surgery or other interventions.

Aneurysm: A blood containing swelling is called an aneurysm and usually in atherosclerotic vessels, it’s because of a ballooning of the vessel, due to a weakness in the wall of that vessel, which gives away under pressure.

Ventricular aneurysm:
Collaterals: Formation or opening up of alternate routes for the passage of blood within a tissue or organ in the presence of underlying obstruction in the existing vessels.

VPC’s: Ventricular premature complexes – These are electrical activity arising directly from the muscle of the ventricles causing a contraction of the ventricles premature to the electrical impulse that traverses the normal conduction system to cause the same.

Ectopics: Bursts of electrical activity arising from individual sources other than the sinus node, which is the natural impulse generator for a normal heart.

Atresia: Congenital absence or pathologic closure of a normal opening, passage or cavity.

Hypoplasia: Defective formation of incomplete development of a part of the body.

Transposition: A state in which the main blood vessels leaving the heart are reversed in position.

Dextrocardia: The simple displacement or the complete transposition (which involves change in the position of the heart chambers from left to right and vice versa) of the heart to the right.