Heart Failure- Symptom, Causes, Treatment of Heart Failure

Heart failure does not mean that the heart has ceased to beat, but rather that it is not beating strongly enough to adequately supply the body's need for blood. It is not always a life-threatening condition, most patients can be treated so that they live normally for many years. Heart failure is also called cardiac insufficiency. There are several types.

Causes of Heart Failure

• left-sided heart failure can result from any condition that requires the left ventricle of the heart to work excessively hard to pump enough blood around the body. Causes of this form of heart failure include high blood pressure, heart valve damage, narrowing of the main artery (aorta) in the chest or abdomen. irregular heart-beat, anaemia, or conditions that weaken the heart muscle in the left ventricle - such as CORONARY HEART DISEASE. HEART ATTACK, CAR-DIOMYOPATHY and some poisonings. In some cases the heart can cope at first by beating faster and by gradually increasing the size of the left ventricle and its muscle wall. When these com-pensations are inadequate, the left ventricle cannot pump out all the blood it receives from the lungs. This leads to congestion of the lungs,
  
  which usually progresses to PULMONARY OEDEMA (accumulation of excessive fluid in the lungs).
• Right-sided heart failure is caused by anything that increases the difficulty of pumping blood out of the lower chamber on the right side of the heart (the right ventricle) into the lungs. This increased resistance to blood flow may be caused by chronic disease of the airways, high blood pressure in the lungs, heart valve damage or some types of congenital heart disease. At first the heart may attempt to overcome the resistance by a gradual increase in size and muscle thickness of the right ventricle (CORPUL-MONALE).
  Failure of these mechanisms results in increased pressure, in veins leading to the heart, which can cause liver enlargement, fluid collection in the abdomen (ASCITES), and generalised tissue swelling (OEDEMA)
  
• Congestive cardiac failure (CCF) usually refers to failure of both sides of the heart, when there are both pulmonary oedema and increased pressure in the veins throughout the body, CCF may be secondary to failure of both ventricles of the heart to pump adequately because of disease, or result from gradual weakening of the heart muscle with age.

Symptoms of Heart Failure

The most common symptom of heart failure is shortness of breath, which at first may be noticed only on exertion but may eventually goon to breathlessness at rest. Other symptoms depend on the type and cause of failure and its rate progress. They include swelling of the ankles, a persistent cough, passing urine frequently at night and excessive tiredness.

Treament of Heart Failure

The commencement of heart failure may be sudden or gradual. Acute failure is an emergency needing treatment in hospital. Oxygen, morphine, vasodilators, diuretics, digoxin and other drugs are used to remove excess fluid and improve heart muscle function. This is followed by treatment of any underlying cause. In chronic heart failure, treatment with digoxin and other medications may need to be ongoing if the cause cannot corrected.

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