HIGH-YIELD SYSTEMS

Cardiovascular

  Embryology

  Anatomy

  Physiology

  Pathology

  Pharmacology

“As for me, except for an occasional heart attack, I feel as young as I ever did.”

—Robert Benchley

“Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.”

—The Wizard of Oz

“As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft.”

—H. L. Mencken

“Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.”

—Zelda Fitzgerald

“Only from the heart can you touch the sky.”

—Rumi

“It is not the size of the man but the size of his heart that matters.”

—Evander Holyfield

The cardiovascular system is one of the highest yield areas for the boards and, for some students, may be the most challenging. Focusing on understanding the mechanisms instead of memorizing the details can make a big difference, especially for this topic. Pathophysiology of atherosclerosis and heart failure, MOA of drugs (particular physiology interactions) and their adverse effects, ECGs of heart blocks, the cardiac cycle, and the Starling curve are some of the more high-yield topics. Differentiating between systolic and diastolic dysfunction is also very important. Heart murmurs and maneuvers that affect these murmurs have also been high yield.

  CARDIOVASCULAR—EMBRYOLOGY

  CARDIOVASCULAR—ANATOMY

  CARDIOVASCULAR—PHYSIOLOGY

  CARDIOVASCULAR—PATHOLOGY

  CARDIOVASCULAR—PHARMACOLOGY

  NOTES