If a 19 year old has an enlarged Heart. Should it be detected by taking blood pressure or listening to the Heart through a stethiscope? especially if it was severe enough for the Patient to die 16 hours after being examined by a Doctor?
2006-09-04 09:33:50 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Health ➔ Diseases & Conditions ➔ Heart Diseases
If its that enlarged sometimes they have an irregular heart beat. it can cause the person to feel fatigued and sometimes congested, like having a cold.
2006-09-04 09:39:09 · answer #1 · answered by Heather G 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
An enlarged heart will not necessarily be detected by checking blood pressure or auscultation (listening with a stethescope). A lot of it depends more on what symptoms the patient has and what the cause of the cardiomyopathy is. The severity of the condition could be suggested depending on what things are heard on the exam, but would not be definitive in the diagnosis as different sounds of the heart appear in different conditions and situations and depending on those circumstances, mean very different things and have different prognoses.
The ideal diagnostic test would be that of an echocardiogram (ultrasound) which will show exactly the size of the heart as well as the function of the heart. A chest X-Ray could certainly suggest a dilated cardiomyopathy.
In the scenario that you have provided above with limited information, a 19 year old with a dilated cardiomyopathy that died after 16 hours would indicate that the condition was already very serious and regardless of what was done, the patient may still have the same outcome. However, a lot of it depends on what the specifics of the case are. Too little information is provided to allow much more than just mere speculation.
2006-09-04 20:32:53 · answer #2 · answered by littleturtleboy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The size of the heart is not something the blood pressure alone can determine. Listening via stethoscope also does not tell that heart is enlarged. Both of these tests can tell if the blood pressure is too high or too low or if there is an abnormal beat or murmur which could indicate a major heart problem. In a perfect world 19 year olds would never die of heart problems yet sometimes they do. Why was this 19 year old seeing the doctor and what were his symptoms? Why weren't more tests conducted that could have helped in time? You can play the why and what ifs forever. If this problem was detected 16 hours earlier would the outcome have been different?
2006-09-04 16:41:00 · answer #3 · answered by petlover 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋