Examination of The Cardiovascular System

James Wight
Examination of the Cardiovascular System
• Wash your hands.

• Introduce yourself to the patient, and ask permission to examine them.
• Expose the patient, and position them at 45°.
Inspection
Look around the bed GTN spray (IHD), oxygen mask/nasal prongs, drips (eg IE), cigarettes
Look at the patient Comfortable at rest, cyanosis, breathless, scars (eg midline sternotomy
for CABG, left axillary scar for mitral valve replacement), pacemaker
boxes, syndromes (Marfan’s, Down’s, Turner’s), cachexia
Look at the hands Clubbing (congenital cyanotic heart disease, IE, atrial myxoma), splinter
haemorrhages (IE), Osler’s nodes (IE), capillary refill time, peripheral
cyanosis, nicotine staining, pale palmar creases (anaemia), Janeway
lesions (IE), tendon xanthomata (hypercholesterolaemia).
Feel the radial pulse Assess rate (over 15s) and rhythm (sinus, regularly irregular or irregularly
irregular), assess for radioradial delay (coarctation of the aorta)
Check for collapsing pulse Found in AR
Feel the brachial pulse Assess character (slow rising, bounding, pulsus arterans, pulsus
bisferiens) and ask for blood pressure (wide splitting, narrow splitting,
pulsus pardoxus)
Look at the face Look for signs of pain (IHD), Cushing’s (possible HT), malar flush (mitral
stenosis).
Look at the eyes Xanthelasma, corneal arcus, anaemia, ophthalmoscopy (looking for Roth
spots and hypertensive retinopathy)
Look in the mouth High arch palate (Marfan’s), central cyanosis, telangiectasia
Look at the neck Assess the jugular venous pressure, feel the carotid pulse
Palpation
Feel for the apex beat Usually in the 5th intercostal space in the midclavicular line. The angle of
Louis marks the 2nd intercostal space.
Feel for thrills and heaves Use a Z-shaped pattern for examination
Percussion
Unnecessary in the CVS examination (except lung bases, see later)
Auscultation
Simultaneously listen and palpate a pulse (preferably a central pulse) to time any murmur to the cardiac
cycle.
Listen over the apex beat (mitral area) with the bell, Listen for heart sounds 1 and 2 (and 3 and 4),
and then diaphragm systolic and diastolic murmurs.
Listen at the left sternal edge in the 4th intercostal Listen for heart sounds 1 and 2, systolic and diastolic
space (tricuspid area) murmurs.
Listen at the left sternal edge in the 2nd intercostal Listen for heart sounds 1 and 2, systolic and diastolic
space (pulmonary area) murmurs.
Listen at the right sternal edge in the 2nd intercostal Listen for heart sounds 1 and 2, systolic and diastolic
space (aortic area) murmurs.
Listen in Inspiration Accentuates rIght sided murmurs
Listen in Expiration Accentuates lEft sided murmurs
Listen over carotids For aortic stenosis
Ask patient to roll onto their left hand side, and listen Accentuates mitral stenosis
in the mitral area with the bell
Ask patient to sit forwards, and listen in the aortic Accentuates aortic regurgitation
area
Percuss and listen to the lung bases For any signs of pleural effusion (RVF) and
pulmonary oedema (LVF)
Final manoeuvres
Palpate for sacral oedema Right heart failure
Palpate the liver Pulsatile in tricuspid regurgitation, hepatomegaly in
right heart failure
Palpate the spleen Enlarged in right heart failure and IE
Palpate for AAA
Palpate peripheral pulses Femoral (inc radio-femoral delay), popliteal, posterior
tibial, dorsalis pedis.
Examine for ankle oedema Right heart failure
Thank the patient and cover them up
I would complete my examination by….

“I would like to take a blood pressure, look at the observations chart (temperature, sats), perform
fundoscopy and dipstick the urine.”
Glossary
Osler’s nodes – painful red-brown nodules found on the finger pulps, seen in IE
Janeway lesions – painless erythematous macules on the palms, seen in IE
Tendon xanthomata – rubbery yellow deposits on the tendons, seen in hypercholesterolaemia
Pulsus arterans – alternate strong and weak beats, seen in LVF
Pulsus bisferiens – a double peak per cardiac cycle, suggestive of mixed aortic valve disease
Pulsus pardoxus – appallingly named sign, since it is neither a pulse nor paradoxical. It is the
exaggeration of the normal decrease in systolic BP and pulse pressure on inspiration. This is seen is severe
asthma, tamponade and constrictive pericarditis).
Malar flush – purple colour over the nose and cheeks, seen in mitral stenosis.
Xanthelasma – periorbital lipid deposits, seen in hypercholesterolaemia.
Corneal arcus – a grey rim around the iris, suggestive of hypercholesterolaemia (but also a normal finding
in the elderly, when it is called arcus senilis)
Roth spots – small red haemorrhages on the retina, suggestive of IE.
Jugular venous pressure – there are no valves between the internal jugular vein and the right atrium, so
pressure changes in the internal jugular vein reflect pressure changes in the right atrium. The distance from
the manubriosternal angle to the top of the column of oscillating blood should be less than 3cm when the
patient is at 45°.
Thrill – ‘palpable murmur’
Heave – pronounced movement of the precordium, suggestive of heart failure.
Murmur – turbulent flow through a heart valve or septal defect
3rd heart sound – “Kentucky”, heard best at the apex. Normal in children, also found in heart failure.
4th heart sound – “Tennessee”, heard best at the apex. Sign of still ventricular walls, eg in LVH, fibrotic left
ventricle, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

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James Wight

Examination of the Cardiovascular System

• Wash your hands.

I would complete my examination by….

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