Allison Adongi

 

Allison Adongi is a 68 year-old woman who has not visited a doctor in years. Over the past four months she has been experiencing tightness in her chest when she carries laundry up the stairs, which is the extent of her exercise. Her children are concerned about her health, especially because both her parents died of heart attacks. They convince her to visit the clinic.

 

question: what are the major risk factors for heart disease?

 

question: what worries should her doctor have about the tightness in her chest?

question: what causes this condition? Describe how it occurs.

 

Her doctor decides she should be investigated for coronary artery disease and books her for a stress test. However, one week later, before her test, Mrs Adongi develops severe chest pain while shopping and one minute laters falls to the ground. Her son performs CPR, and the mall security guard rushes over with an automatic external defibrillator (AED). He uses it successfully, and the ambulance soon is on the scene. Mrs Adongi has a pulse and is breathing as she arrives at the emergency department.

 

question: what happened to Mrs Adongi?

question: how do you perform CPR?

question: how do you use an AED?

 

Mrs Adongi is admitted to the hospital, where she stays for two weeks. An echocardiogram shows...

She is released from hospital with much poorer function than before. She now becomes quite short of breath when walking across a room, and she is unable to lie in bed because she is coughing too much.

 

question: what condition does Mrs Adongi now have?