How Is Angina Diagnosed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How Is Angina Diagnosed - Essay Example Prior to the management of unstable angina it is crucial to diagnose the problem. Unstable angina can be diagnosed by means of clinical presentation of patient and by the measurement of certain biochemical markers. Cardiac troponin and myoglobin are valid diagnostic markers (Kumar and Clark, 2012). The main tool used in diagnosis of unstable angina is the clinical presentation of the patient. The patients complain of chest pain, chest pain may occur at rest or while exertion. The patient feels chest pain which radiates to the shoulder, arm, jaw, neck or the back. A feeling of discomfort might be felt by patient, and they might describe it like tightness in the chest. Dyspnea and sweating are also the possible symptoms of unstable angina (Kumar and Clark, 2012). On physical examination the patient is usually normal. Elder patients and women present with rare symptoms such as weakness, nausea, lightheadedness and diaphoresis (Sami et al, 2010). Electrocardiography plays a vital role is assessing unstable angina. It is a good prognostic tool for physicians to make decisions for patients who are at high risk for coronary syndromes. The 12 lead electrocardiogram is used for the diagnosis. For instance if a patient with symptoms of angina comes to the ER, physicians should do an ECG as soon as possible to rule out the underlying problem. In unstable angina the findings on an electrocardiogram include ST-segment depression, brief ST-segment elevation and inversion of T-wave. The ST-segment elevation in two continuous leads as a confirmation for acute myocardial infarction (Kumar and Cannon, 2009). Measurement of cardiac biomarkers is done in patients with acute coronary syndromes. The cardiac troponins are highly specific and sensitive in marking myocardial injury. Cardiac troponins have taken over CK-MB. The major disadvantage in using cardiac troponin is that it starts to rise in the patient after about 6 hours of the appearance of the symptoms (Kumar and