Cardiovascular System

11 subsections. The cardiovascular system makes up 13% of questions on the certification and recertification exams for PAs.

Cardiomyopathy
  • Dilated
  • Hypertrophic
  • Restrictive

Conduction disorders/dysrhythmias

  • Atrial fibrillation/flutter
  • Atrioventricular block
  • Bundle branch block
  • Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia
  • Premature beats
  • Sick sinus syndrome
  • Sinus arrhythmia
  • Torsades de pointes
  • Ventricular fibrillation
  • Ventricular tachycardia

Congenital heart disease

  • Atrial septal defect
  • Coarctation of aorta
  • Patent ductus arteriosus
  • Tetralogy of Fallot
  • Ventricular septal defect

Coronary artery disease

  • Acute myocardial infarction
    • Non–ST-segmentelevation
    • ST-segmentelevation
  • Angina pectoris
    • Prinzmetal variant
    • Stable
    • Unstable

Heart failure

Hypertension

  • Essential hypertension
  • Hypertensive emergencies
  • Secondary hypertension

Hypotension

  • Cardiogenic shock
  • Orthostatic hypotension
  • Vasovagal hypotension

Lipid disorders

  • Hypercholesterolemia
  • Hypertriglyceridemia

Traumatic, infectious, and inflammatory heart conditions

  • Acute and subacute bacterial endocarditis
  • Acute pericarditis
  • Cardiac tamponade
  • Pericardial effusion

Valvular disorders

  • Aortic
  • Mitral
  • Pulmonary
  • Tricuspid

Vascular disease

  • Aortic aneurysm/dissection
  • Arterial embolism/thrombosis • Arteriovenous malformation • Giant cell arteritis
  • Peripheral artery disease
  • Phlebitis/thrombophlebitis • Varicose veins
  • Venous insufficiency
  • Venous thrombosis

Conductive Disorders

Hypertension

JNC-8 Guidelines for Hypertension treatment

http://www.nmhs.net/documents/27JNC8HTNGuidelinesB...

Compelling Indications
Indication Treatment Choice
Heart Failure ACE-i/ARB + BB + diuretic + spironolactone
Post - MI/Clinical CAD ACE-i/ARB + BB
CAD ACE-i, BB, diuretic, CCB
Diabetes ACE-i/ARB, CCB, diuretic
CKD ACE-i/ARB
Recurrent stroke prevention ACE-i, diuretic
Pregnancy labetolol (first line), nifedipine, methyldopa


Consumer reports has drug reports designed for consumers that are pretty well made.


Here are reports to help you recommend home blood pressure monitors: The Omron 7 series was rated best in one test, and the Moron 10 series in the other test, so I\'m guessing Omron upper arm monitors might be a good recommendation.

Valvular Disease

Systolic Murmurs

  • Aortic stenosis
  • Mitral stenosis
  • Tricuspid regurgitation
  • Pulmonary regurgitation
  • -
  • Mitral valve prolapse
  • Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)
  • Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)
  • Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Diastolic Murmurs

  • Aortic regurgitation
  • Mitral regurgitation
  • Tricuspid stenosis
  • Pulmonary stenosis
  • Pulmonary stenosis
  • Austin-Flint Murmur

Continuous Murmurs

  • Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA)

Italicized murmurs are not in the PANCE Blueprint

Healio has been my favorite source for learning about murmurs and heart sounds.

https://www.healio.com/cardiology/learn-the-heart/...

Khan Academy Heart Sounds videos

Khan Academy has two videos on heart sounds that people have found very useful.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Healio has been my favorite source for learning about murmurs and heart sounds.

https://www.healio.com/cardiology/learn-the-heart/...

EKG Interpretation

Build your EKG skills

Learn the basics of rhythm identification.

1. The Rapid Interpretation of EKG's

This is a comprehensive book of all the rhythms you need to know in PA school and clinical practice. At times it is a bit slow and basic; but, I\'m sure a review never hurt anyone. Contains everything from physiology explanations, the different pacemakers of the heart, pictures of EKG strips, explanations of arrhythmias, etc. This is the resource that I used in PA school. Click here to buy the cheaper 5th edition. The 6th edition costs significantly more, but the differences are minimal.

2.How to Read an EKG: Emory University

If you let this continue to play to the next video it is actually a series of 10 videos that through your journey of learning EKG's will be extremely helpful!

Full Playlist of 10 videos from Emory University

3. ECG Zone: Tutorials & Cases

These are case studies that help you learn how to interpret EKG's. This may be too much for someone before in class lectures. Definitely a great resource to have as you go along and learn!

Full Playlist of 2 videos from ECG Zone

EMCrit 128 Pulmonary Embolism Treatment Options

Wells & PERC scores for PE