Heart murmurs mnemonic — systolic vs. diastolic

The contributor of this medical mnemonic is Kate. Thank you!

I always find myself getting confused on which murmurs or systolic vs. diastolic, but knew that once I got them in the right phase of the cycle I’d be able to differentiate them.

With that in mind and my weird logic… and knowing that there’s one Aortic and Mitral and one regurg and stenosis in each half… May I introduce:

Ms. Dee Sas

MS (mitral stenosis) = Diastolic (and thus aortic regurg as well).
SAS = systolic aortic stenosis (and thus mitral regurg).

From there, you just have to remember a few key words… continuous, click, crescendo-descrendo, etc.

Using this helped me SIGNIFICANTLY not only on my cardiovasc pathophys unit, but also on step 1 and on the wards.

Murmurs recognition – part 1

This is a guest post from vanumu . You can also find and follow him on twitter @vanstar7. I am a huge fan of his work.

Let’s review the basics!

Blood flow through the heart

Let’s look at the basic flow of blood through the heart using a simple diagram.

Deoxygenated Blood flows from the body into the right atrium (RA).

Then it travels through the the tricuspid valve to the right ventricle(RV).

Secondary Hypertension Mnemonic

95% of hypertension is primary (idiopathic). 5% is secondary and causes include CHAPS:

Cushing’s syndrome

Hyperaldosteronism (Conn’s syndrome)

Aortic coarctation

Pheochromocytoma

Stenosis of the renal arteries

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Arrhythmia treatment options

This is a guest post from vanumu . You can also find and follow him on twitter @vanstar7. I am a huge fan of his work.

Essential concept lies with recognizing if the patient is stable or unstable.
UNSTABLE = “Chest pain, Shortness of Breath, Hypotension, Confusion means you’re not getting enough perfusion” (Dr.Fisher) = SHOCK!

For stable patients, you can consider medical management.

Here is the mnemonic I use to remember the drugs for each type of arrhythmia. Click on the image for a larger view.

Aortic stenosis characteristics

USMLE medical mnemonic: Aortic stenosis characteristics.

SAD:

Syncope
Angina
Dyspnea

Aortic stenosis rheumatic, gross pathology

Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

Stable angina management mnemonic

Stable angina management mnemonic.

ABCDE stable angina treatment mnemonic.

A = A spirin and Anti-Anginal therapy
B = Beta-blocker and Blood pressure
C = Cigarette smoking andCholesterol
D = Diet and Diabetes
E = Education and Exercise

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