Cardiac Arrhythmia: Pathology and Treatment and Systematic Patient Assessment (Case Study Sample)

Case Study One: Mr. Curtis
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Case Study One: Mr. Curtis
Cardiac Arrhythmia
According to the rhythm strip, Mr. Curtis has suffered atrial fibrillation (AF/AFib). From the rhythm strip, there are absent p waves and the rhythm shows an irregularly irregular heart rate as evidenced by an irregularly irregular QRS complex throughout the strip. AF diagnosis is based on performing a 12-lead electrocardiograph (ECG) which is characterized by the absence of P waves and an irregularly irregular ventricular rate (Olshansky, Goldberger, Knight, & Saperia, 2019).
Atrial fibrillation is the commonest cardiac arrhythmia It occurs as a result of uncoordinated atrial activation resulting in ineffective contraction of the atria (Streuer, 2015). ECG findings include irregularly irregular R-R intervals, absence of P waves, and an irregular atrial activity (Streur, 2015). It is a dangerous condition as it is associated with five times the risk of developing heart failure and stroke and more than 1.5 times the risk of death (Tacklind, 2019).
The condition affects a significant number of the population with an estimated 5 million people affected in the United States and the prevalence is expected to be 12.1 million people by 2030 (Ruddox et al., 2017). It is a common condition with older age and affects about 8% of the adult population aged more than 65 years and also affects more than 14% of the adult population at the age of 85 years or more (Ruddox et al., 2017).
AF is associated with multiple pathophysiologic mechanisms that include genetic, structural, as well as electrophysiologic mechanisms (January et al., (2014). Conditions like high blood pressure, valvular abnormalities, coronary artery disease, as well as heart failure result in an increase in the left atrial pressure, dilation of the atria, and stress on the atrial wall, leading to structural abnormalities of the atrium such as hypertrophy which increase the susceptibility of AFib from ectopic triggers resulting in conduction abnormalities which promote reentry (January et al., 2019).
Atrial fibrillation is dangerous because it increases the risk of stroke and cardiovascular events. The symptoms of atrial fibrillation include palpitations, an irregular heartbeat, weakness, dizziness, chest pains, shortness of breath, and dizziness. There are various reasons for the development of this cardiac rhythm and why Mr. Curtis got AF. One of the reasons for the development of AF in this patient is surgery, which is the cholecystectomy that he has undergone. More than 12% of patients that go through major and non-cardiac operations experience atrial fibrillation, known as Post-operative atrial fibrillation that is mostly dismissed to be a transient occurrence (Robert et al., 2015).
The second reason is a history of hypertension which predisposes Mr. Curtis to the development of atrial fibrillation. Hypertension is an important risk factor that is linked to atrial fibrillation and an increased risk of developing cardiovascular events in patients that have AF (Verdecchia, Angeli, & Reboldi, 2018). What explains is that there are hemodynamic