NBME 23 Answers : Block 4 : #45 = A 32-year-old man has a diastolic blood pressure ...

NBME 23 Answers

nbme23/Block 4/Question#45

A 32-year-old man has a diastolic blood pressure ...

Precapillary resistance

+15 upvote downvote
submitted by ferrero(15),

A very similar question I have seen in Qbanks will ask why a patient with right heart failure does not develop edema and the answer is increased lymphatic drainage. I got this question wrong originally because I answered along this line of reasoning but I think in this case it all has to do with WHERE the extra pressure is coming from. In this question the pt has diastolic hypertension so you can think about the pressure as coming "forward" so constricting precapillary sphincters can prevent an increase in pressure in the capillary bed. However for right heart failure this extra fluid is coming from the OPPOSITE direction (backwards from the right heart) and constricting precapillary sphincters can do nothing (on opposite side of capillary bed) - the only way to prevent edema is to increase lymphatic drainage.

seagull The question clearly lead us to think about Osmotic pressure by talking about protein and urine. I wonder how many people used that line of reasoning (like myself)? +10

mousie Great explanation, I chose lymphatic drainage for the same reasoning (similar Q on different bank) +1

sympathetikey My reasoning was much more simplistic (maybe too simple) but in my mind, systolic BP is determined by Cardiac Output and diastolic BP is determined by arterioles. Therefore, what comes before the capillary and regulates resistance? Arterioles. That's why I said that pre-capillary resistance. +12

cr the main difference between the 2 cases is that in this case the patient has high BP +

link981 So in kindergarten language the question is essentially asking how high pressure in the arterial system is NOT transmitted to the venous system (which is where EDEMA develops). But you know they have to add all this info to try confuse a basic principle and make you second guess yourself. (Got it wrong by the way) because of what @ferrero said of Qbank questions. +

hello @ferrero what are you talking about? lymphatic drainage is the wrong answer... +

hello ok never mind. i got it. hard to understand b/c it was a big block of text. +

+1 upvote downvote
submitted by notadoctor(51),

I've been searching for my source for this but can't seem to find it. However, the way I thought about it was that edema happens via the capillaries. If there is increased resistance via the precapillary sphincters as much blood wouldn't be able to get into the capillaries. The blood would instead get shunted via anastomoses to the veins. This article from cvphysiology.com explains it a little better: CV Physiology: Tissue Edema and General Principles of Transcapillary Fluid Exchange

+0 upvote downvote
submitted by usmleuser007(97),

Aortic Diastolic Pressure

High TPR = high DP
High HR = high DP
High SV = high DP

Aortic Systolic Pressure

High Contractility = high SP
High SV = high SP
Low Compliance = high SP

+0 upvote downvote
submitted by ferrero(15),

+0 upvote downvote
submitted by hello(59),

why is plasma oncotic pressure wrong?

-1 upvote downvote
submitted by usmleuser007(97),

1. Aortic Diastolic Pressure 
    1. High TPR = high DP
    2. High HR = high DP
    3. High SV = high DP 
2. Aortic Systolic Pressure 
    1. High Contractility = high SP
    2. High SV = high SP
    3. Low Compliance = high SP

yex https://cvphysiology.com/Microcirculation/M012 This helps somehow, the first part about capillary pressure. +

usmlelol that's the exp part:: The average capillary hydrostatic pressure is determined by arterial and venous pressures (PA and PV), and by the ratio of post-to-precapillary resistances (RV/RA). An increase in either arterial or venous pressure will increase capillary pressure; however, a given change in PA is only about one-fifth as effective in changing PC as the same absolute change in PV. Because venous resistance is relatively low, changes in PV are readily transmitted back to the capillary, and conversely, because arterial resistance is relatively high, changes in PA are poorly transmitted downstream to the capillary. +