Commonly Encountered Conditions

The following sections are included:

• Atherosclerosis

• Angina

  • Epidemiology

  • Mechanism

  • Causes of angina

  • History

  • Examination

  • Investigations

  • Management of angina: acute ‘stable’ angina

• Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS)

• ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI)

  • Rapid assessment of the patient

  • Investigations and management

  • Contra-indications to thrombolysis

  • Post-reperfusion therapy

• Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI)

  • Management of NSTEMI

• Unstable Angina (UA)

  • Complications of acute coronary syndromes

  • Long-term management of acute coronary syndromes

• Atrial Fibrillation (AF)

  • The ABC approach to a patient with AF

  • Causes of atrial fibrillation

  • History of presenting complaint

  • Past medical history

  • Drug history/social history

  • Examination

  • Management of atrial fibrillation

  • Cardioversion

  • Pharmacological cardioversion — which drugs?

  • Rhythm control

  • Rate control

  • Anticoagulation

  • Radiotherapy/Cryoablation therapy

  • The surgical alternative

  • Discussion points and new developments

• Other Arrhythmias

  • Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT)

  • Speed of conduction through the myocardium

  • How do I approach this patient?

  • Causes of arrhythmias

  • History

  • Examination

  • Investigations

  • Management of arrhythmias

  • Using anti-arrhythmics drugs

  • Management of bradyarrhythmias

  • Management of tachyarrhythmias

  • What is Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW)?

  • How is WPW diagnosed?

  • How is WPW managed?

• Hypertension

  • Blood pressure — understanding the basics

  • What causes hypertension?

  • History

  • Complications from uncontrolled hypertension

  • On examination

  • Investigations in hypertension

  • How to measure blood pressure

  • Management of the hypertensive patient

• Heart Failure

  • What are the causes of heart failure?

  • History

  • Examination

  • Investigations

  • Further investigations in heart failure

  • Management of heart failure

• Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT)

  • What is CRT?

  • How is re-synchronisation achieved?

  • Procedure

  • CRT-D versus CRT-P

  • Complications

  • Evidence for its use

• Cardiomyopathy (CM)

  • What are the causes of cardiomyopathy?

• Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM)

  • History

  • Examination

  • Investigations

  • Management of dilated cardiomyopathy

• Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)

  • History

  • Examination

  • Investigations

• Restrictive Cardiomyopathy (RCM)

  • History

  • Examination

  • Investigations

  • Management

• Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC)

  • History, examination and investigations

  • Management of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

• Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator (ICD)

  • Indication

  • How does an implantable cardiac defibrillator work?

  • Procedure

  • Follow-up

  • Evidence for their use (see Chapter 9 ‘Abbreviation’ for list of trials)

• Cardiac Pacing

  • DDDR, VVIR — what does it mean?

  • What are the indications for pacing?

  • Types of pacing

  • How to use an external pacing device

  • Insertion of a permanent pacemaker