I am hoping it's ok to post it here, if not I apologize.
I am doing a Case Study on MI. One of the questions is,
Explain why Mr X had a rapid but weak pulse on admission. Explain Both.
Now without researching, my initial guess is, he has Tachycardia because his heart is damaged and trying to work harder which is causing the rapid pulse but because the heart is damaged it is not working efficiently with this extra effort causing the pulse to be weak.
My teacher just wants to the point answers, so I have tried researching to make sure my answer is right and I keep coming up empty. I keep finding that MI can cause Tachycardia but not WHY. I know Hypoxia can cause Tachycardia as well and MI can cause Hypoxia so I am not sure if that is the real reason or not. If anyone can let me know if my first answer is right I would appreciate it. :) I am not one that is fond of just asking for answers, I just want to make sure if my WHY is right since I am having trouble finding out.
I don't think that's correct. Daytonite gave the exact correct answer. Hypoxia and myocardial tissue damage leads to cardiiomyopathy = weaker pump = weaker pulse. A HR of 100 does reduce your stroke volume, but not enough to cause a "weak" pulse. It's much more likely that a weak pulse is due to poor force of LV contraction resulting from the MI.
ghillbert, MSN, NP
3,796 Posts
I don't think that's correct. Daytonite gave the exact correct answer. Hypoxia and myocardial tissue damage leads to cardiiomyopathy = weaker pump = weaker pulse. A HR of 100 does reduce your stroke volume, but not enough to cause a "weak" pulse. It's much more likely that a weak pulse is due to poor force of LV contraction resulting from the MI.