help on diagnosis please

Reddy,RN · Jun 4, 2005

i need to write a definition of "central hypertension." so far all i can find is something to do with central venous pressure, and i'm guessing that a decrease in cardiac output can cause blood backup, increasing venous volume, increasing cvp which would increase b/p??????. i'm not sure that is correct. can anyone straighten me out? or point me to a reference? thanks.

i'm betting it's "essential" rather than "central" hypertension you're looking for so here are these:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000153.htm

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/hypertension.htm

http://www.guideline.gov/summary/summary.aspx?ss=15&doc_id=3539&nbr=2765

nurse_wannabe · Jun 4, 2005

Hmm, interesting. I had never heard of central hypertension before, so I did a quick search of the web and found this:

From this website: http://www.cortlandtforum.com/subweb/issues/archives/2004/August%202004/cfweb_letters.htm

The term "central hypertension" refers to central aortic BP, which may differ from peripheral (e.g., brachial) BP. Central aortic BP always differs in having a lower pulse pressure than peripheral pressure. In some instances, the central pressure is higher or lower than the peripheral BP, as determined by analysis of the peripheral pulse wave. The accuracy of estimating the central pressure in the individual patient is not as reliable as its proponents would claim.

If you are like me and are now curious as to how a central BP is obtained, you can check out this website that has a pretty cool product demo that shows how it's done: http://www.atcormedical.com/demo/01.htm. I don't know if there are other ways of obtaining it or not. Anyone else know?

nurse_wannabe · Jun 4, 2005

I'm betting it's "essential" rather than "central" hypertension you're looking for so here are these:

That's what I thought at first, too! I really did NOT expect to find anything on central hypertension." :chuckle

Reddy,RN · Jun 4, 2005

I stand corrected and yield to the greater googler. Mistake by mistake, I learn. (And no patients are harmed in the process.) Thanks. :coollook:

leopold · Jun 4, 2005

Thanks for the help. This is all very confusing. Everything sounds right and I'm trying to compare it with the class book which talks about essential htn and CVP but in completely different contexts, not a thing about central HTN. I think I'll give her a list of everything and let her sort through it. :devil: All the other students in my group got easy things like diabetes and COPD. I think this woman is out to get me. Of course it didn't help that she gave me the diagnosis on Thursday to prepare for clinicals on Friday and I wrote it down and promptly forgot about it so that I got reprimanded when I went in completely unprepared. That is actually the first time since I've been in school that I've spaced out like that. I think my brain has left for summer vacation without me.