00:01
Okay, so let's look at this in a nutshell.
00:04
Vasodilators dilate blood vessels.
00:07
Some vasodilators primarily
work on the arterioles,
some primarily work on the veins,
and some work on both.
00:14
Now venous dilation decreases the amount
of blood that returns to the heart.
00:18
We call that preload.
00:19
How hard the heart works, how much
blood the heart pumps, cardiac output,
and tissue perfusion. So, venous dilation
is a decrease, right, of the amount of blood
that goes back to the heart, preload.
00:31
It decreases how hard the heart works,
how much blood the heart pumps
out, which is cardiac output,
and relatively decreases tissue perfusion.
00:41
Venous vasodilators particularly
increase the risk of
orthostatic hypotension and
therefore, a risk for falls.
00:49
So you always want to educate your
patients to go from lying to sitting
or sitting to standing very slowly.
00:57
Now arterial dilation decreases
the workload of the heart
because the afterload is decreased,
so tissue perfusion is better.
01:06
Remember, that reflex tachycardia
is caused by
the baroreceptor response and we
can treat it with beta blockers.
01:13
Increased sodium and water retention
can also be treated with diuretics.
01:17
Patients who are on vasodilators
end up with a lower blood pressure
over a period of time,
which encourages your body, remember,
to put out that extra aldosterone,
hang on to sodium, hang on to water,
increase your volume, and increase
your blood pressure.
01:32
That's why we treat that with diuretics.
01:35
Thank you for watching our video today.