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You listen to your patient's AV graft and hear a whistling sound, this could be:

a. Clot formation
b. Infection
c. Stenosis
d. Normal blood flow

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The whistling sound heard from an AV graft suggests turbulent blood flow likely due to stenosis, which is the narrowing of blood vessels causing irregular flow and turbulence detectable by a stethoscope.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a patient's AV graft makes a whistling sound, it could indicate an abnormal condition. One such condition that can cause turbulent blood flow, resulting in a whistling or whooshing sound, is stenosis. Stenosis refers to the narrowing of blood vessels, like arteries, which can cause irregular flow and turbulence. Turbulence is recognized by the noise it creates and is often detected using a stethoscope. In the circulatory system, this is similar to the detection of Korotkoff sounds when measuring blood pressure. Turbulent flow due to vessel narrowing or heart valve issues leads to various types of unusual heart and vascular sounds.

Therefore, upon hearing a whistling sound from an AV graft, the likely cause is c. Stenosis, which is an occlusion or narrowing of an artery leading to turbulence. This is distinctly different from normal blood flow, which is typically silent. It's also important to differentiate such sounds from those caused by other issues like infections or clot formations, which generally do not produce a whistling sound.

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