A 34-year-old man who is an intravenous drug user has presented ...

[ETearle]

A 34-year-old man who is an intravenous drug user has presented to the emergency department with malaise, abdominal pain, and lethargy.
 
  The health care team wants to rule out endocarditis as a diagnosis. Staff of the department would most realistically anticipate which of the following sets of diagnostics?
  A)
  CT of the heart, chest x-ray, and ECG
  B)
  Echocardiogram, blood cultures, and temperature
  C)
  ECG, blood pressure, and stress test
  D)
  Cardiac catheterization, chest x-ray, electrolyte measurement, and white cell count

Question 2

When explaining to a patient why he only had minimal muscle damage following 99 occlusion of the left anterior descending artery, the nurse will explain this is primarily due to
 
  A)
  the possibility that the person has elevated INR levels that prevent blood from backlogging in the vessel.
  B)
  development of collateral circulation that builds channels between some of the smaller arteries usually when the flow is decreased gradually.
  C)
  good genetic makeup that allows occluded arteries to keep vasodilating to meet metabolic needs.
  D)
  the release of substances formed by special glands that transport the blood cell-by-cell through smaller spaces.

[lindahyatt42]

Answer to Question 1

Ans:
B

Feedback:

An echocardiogram would help visualize the heart, while blood cultures would confirm the presence or absence of microorganisms in circulation, and temperature would gauge the presence of infection. A chest x-ray, blood pressure measurement, and cardiac catheterization would be less likely to indicate infective endocarditis.

Answer to Question 2

Ans:
B

Feedback:

Collateral circulation is a mechanism for the long-term regulation of local blood flow. Anastomotic channels exist between some of the smaller arteries. These channels permit perfusion of an area by more than one artery. When the artery becomes occluded, these anastomotic channels increase in size, allowing blood from a patent artery to perfuse the area supplied by the occluded vessel.