Helen is a 68-year-old woman who has been brought to the emergency department by her friend Karen. According to Karen, she and Helen had been working for several hours cleaning Helen’s home. As they were finishing, Helen began to complain of heaviness in her chest, shortness of breath, and dizziness. These were not alleviated by Helen taking a nitroglycerin tablet and resting so Karen thought it best to bring Helen in for evaluation.

Question

As Helen experienced her symptoms, why may nitroglycerin tablets help?
Nitroglycerin is known to alleviate dizziness.
Nitroglycerin vasodilates arterioles helping with coronary blood flow.
Nitroglycerine tablets are antianxiety medications.
Nitroglycerin increases heart rate helping to maintain cardiac output.

Answer 1

The best answer to the question “As Helen experienced her symptoms, why may nitroglycerin tablets help?” is:

Nitroglycerin vasodilates arterioles helping with coronary blood flow.

Nitroglycerin is a medication that works primarily as a vasodilator. It relaxes and dilates blood vessels, which can improve blood flow, particularly to the heart muscle. This can be beneficial in conditions like angina or ischemic heart disease, where reduced blood flow to the heart leads to symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath. In Helen's case, the heaviness in her chest suggests she may be experiencing angina, and nitroglycerin would be expected to help by improving coronary blood flow.

The other options provided are not accurate in the context of how nitroglycerin functions.