By Tyra Whye, Graham Rubin, and Noah Kaplan DOCTOR!

PATIENT #1: MR. JAMES SHERMAN “I’ve listened with a stethoscope and have diagnosed Mitral Valve Prolapse. Please explain what this is. Ask him his symptoms and then, based on what he tells you, tell him what we do next.” Mitral Valve Prolapse is when one of the valves pumping blood from the left atrium to the left ventricle can’t close as tightly as it should. Most of the time, nothing happens. But sometimes, the blood goes back through the valve, and stays in the left atrium. This can cause shortness of breath, chest pain, and feeling that your heart is beating too hard or too fast. Most of the time this happens, it can be cured with medicine, but sometimes people might need surgery to repair the valve.

MITRAL VALVE PROLAPSE

PATENT #2: DENISE LOPEZ “I’m pretty sure she’s got a mild case of tachycardia. Please explain to her what’s going on and how we’re going to treat it.” Patients with Tachycardia usually have a resting heart rate of 100+ BPM. Parts of the heart may not get the oxygen they need. Tachycardia may cause sudden cardiac arrest How to stop a fast heart rate: certain maneuvers (instructed by your doctor) may reduce heart rate. If those don’t work, then anti-arrhythmic medication like Flecainide and Propafenone. Also, cardioversion may help. How to stop an episode: A pacemaker, or ICD (Implantable cadioverter- defibrillator will help stop an episode. If that doesn’t work then open heart surgery may be required.

PATIENT #3: EDGAR ROBINSON “Looks to be high risk for a thrombotic ischemic stroke. We’ll need to stent him. Please explain the procedure and explain what a thrombotic ischemic stroke is.” A thrombotic ischemic stroke is basically when there is plaque buildup in the arteries in your brain. The plaque can cause a blood clot, and blood can’t get to the brain. A stent procedure is when we put a small tube with a balloon, and a small piece of metal mesh into the artery. The balloon opens up the clogged artery, and the mesh is then put in to hold open the artery.

STENT PROCEDURE

PATIENT #5: JANICE LIN “She’s got aortic stenosis and I think she’s a good candidate for TAVI. Please tell her about it.” Aortic Stenosis is when the valve between the heart and artery that carries blood throughout the body shrinks and narrows. When that happens you may feel weak, tired, and you could suffer from heart failure. We can try to treat you with transcatheter aortic valve implantation, which also stands for TAVI. TAVI is a lot more simple than open heart surgery and you wont have to stay in the hospital or intensive care for as long. There is a metal frame and another valve to replace the narrowed valve on top of a balloon. The balloon is on a tube that we would insert through the groin or an artery and push it up into the aortic valve. We would then pump air into the balloon causing it to expand the narrowed valve and artery. While the balloon is expanding the steel frame will expand too. The steel frame will then stay in place and we will pull out the balloon. The old valve will be replaced by the new one and your valve will not narrow any more.

TAVI