Help with exam revision

Do you have a athens account, if you do this article may be interesting http://thorax.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/53/11/989

Sounds like a realllll fun test!

Here's some basic info that might help you:

In cardiac failure, the heart's pumping ability is impaired. Depending on which side of the "pump" fails, you can get edema in different parts of the body. If the left side of the heart fails, where does the fluid back up?

Let's think about it...blood entering the left side of the heart is coming back from being oxygenated in the lungs, and is pumped to your extremities (& all those useful internal organs). If you've got lots of nice oxygenated blood in the lungs, but the left side is weak, fluid backs up in the lungs (pulmonary edema).

If the right side of the pump is failing, where does the fluid backup?

Blood coming into the right side of the heart is returning from peripheral circulation & being pumped to the lungs. If the right side of the pump fails, you may see edema at the extremities (i.e. swollen ankles)

COPD can aggravate right side failure as a result of pulmonary hypertension (an increase in blood pressure of lung blood vessels). Because of the pulmonary HTN, there's increased "back pressure" fighting against the right side of your heart. It would be like trying to blow up a balloon, while a friend is squeezing the balloon. As a result, your heart can't pump the blood from the periphery to the lungs, and fluid backs up in the extremities (or sacral area for patients laying in bed).

Hope this helped & wasn't too confusing.

Welcome to Allnurses! I think that you'll find most folks here are pretty friendly.

Cruffler, very good explanation, easy to remember. I never thought of it that way...hmmmm..old dog always learn new tricks lol.