Medical Term For Heart Failure

Types Of Heart Failure

The main types of heart failure are named for where they occur in the heart:

• Left-sided heart failure
• Biventricular heart failure

Clinicians also may classify heart failure as:

• Acute: You have active symptoms of heart failure, with either a new diagnosis or with long-term heart failure.
• Chronic: You have a history of heart failure, but your condition is relatively stable with no symptoms or with manageable symptoms.

What Is The Life Expectancy For People With Pulmonary Hypertension

The life expectancy varies from person to person. It depends how quickly youre diagnosed and what other medical conditions you have. Talk with your provider about what you can expect in your individual situation.

Pulmonary hypertension is a progressive disease. That means it gets worse over time. It progresses more quickly in some people than in others. Treatment can improve your chances of surviving pulmonary hypertension for many years.

What You Should Know About Chf

Primarily, the damaging effects of CHF have to do with congestion, or the improper pooling of blood due to the failure of healthy circulation. Over time, problems get worse as the body attempts to compensate for this issue, leading to:

• Enlarged heart as cardiac muscles pump harder and grow
• Elevated heart rate to make up for insufficient blood flow
• Narrowed vessels to preserve dangerously low blood pressure
• Diverted blood flow to crucial parts of the body and away from the limbs

These factors, alongside the impact of blood congestion in parts of the body, contribute to the range of CHF symptoms that are seen.

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Outlook For Heart Failure

Heart failure is a serious long-term condition that will usually continue to get slowly worse over time.

It can severely limit the activities you’re able to do and is often eventually fatal.

But it’s very difficult to tell how the condition will progress on an individual basis.

It’s very unpredictable. Lots of people remain stable for many years, while in some cases it may get worse quickly.

Surgery For Heart Failure

Your doctor may recommend surgery to implant a medical device that helps the heart function more effectively:

• Pacemaker, which maintains a steady heart beat in people with a slow or irregular heartbeat
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator , which monitors the heart for fast rhythm and delivers an electrical shock to reset normal rhythm
• Left ventricular assist device , which takes over the pumping action of the heart

People with advanced heart failure may be candidates for heart transplantation. A heart transplant replaces the diseased heart with a donated heart from a person who has died.

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When Should I Call My Healthcare Provider

• A fast heart rate .
• A respiratory infection or cough thats getting worse.
• Constantly feeling dizzy or lightheaded.
• Episodes of chest pain or discomfort with physical activity.
• Extreme fatigue or decreased ability to do your normal activities.
• Nausea or lack of appetite.
• Restlessness or confusion.
• Shortness of breath thats gotten worse, especially if you wake up feeling short of breath.
• Swelling in your ankles, legs or tummy thats gotten worse.
• Trouble breathing with regular activities or at rest.

Heart Failure Due To Valvular Heart Disease

Heart failure also can arise as a result of regurgitant and stenotic valve disease . It can sometimes be difficult to determine whether mitral regurgitation is primary or secondary in a patient with heart failure and left ventricular dilation, although a prior history of known valve disease or rheumatic fever may suggest a primary valve problem. The objective of treatment of primary valve disease is the prevention of heart failure by surgical repair or replacement of the diseased valve or valves . The development of overt heart failure is an ominous sign, sometimes requiring emergent valve replacement but sometimes indicating that valve replacement may not be possible .

Aortic Stenosis

Mitral Regurgitation

Mitral regurgitation can be a primary cause or a secondary manifestation in a patient with heart failure and left ventricular dilation . In primary mitral regurgitation, surgery sometimes will result in clinical improvement, but some patients with advanced left ventricular dysfunction will not achieve substantial benefit . Valve repair is preferable to valve replacement,A30 although neither procedure is proven to improve survival. Generally, medical and device therapy is preferred to isolated valve surgery for secondary regurgitation.

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What Makes Yale Medicines Approach To Treating Congestive Heart Failure Unique

Yale Medicines team comprises heart failure cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, dedicated advanced-practice, registered nurses and nurse coordinators, dietitians, exercise physiologists, financial counselors, immunologists specializing in transplants, psychologists, and specialists in palliative care.

With a multidisciplinary approach, Yale Medicine physicians include the patients desires as well as input from the family to develop a comprehensive treatment plan that’s right for them.

What Are The Types Of Cardiomyopathy

The most common types of cardiomyopathy are:

• Dilated cardiomyopathy: Your hearts blood-pumping chambers enlarge .
• Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia : Disease in your heart muscle causes irregular heart rhythms.
• Restrictive cardiomyopathy: Your heart muscle scars, stiffens or both.
• Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy : Abnormal protein buildup in your hearts left ventricle .

Some cardiomyopathies dont fit into these general categories. These conditions include:

• Broken heart syndrome : Temporary heart enlargement.
• Chemotherapy-induced cardiomyopathy: Heart damage related to cancer treatment.
• Peripartum cardiomyopathy: Congestive heart failure that occurs during or after pregnancy.

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What Are The First Symptoms Of Pulmonary Hypertension

The first symptom of pulmonary hypertension is shortness of breath during your daily activities. These may include climbing stairs or grocery shopping. You may also feel short of breath when you exercise.

At the start of pulmonary hypertension, you may not have any symptoms. When you do start to notice symptoms, they may be mild. But PH symptoms get worse over time, making it harder for you to do your usual activities.

Can Heart Failure Be Prevented

You may be able to prevent or delay heart failure if you:

• Work with your provider to manage any health conditions that increase your risk of developing heart failure
• Make healthy changes in your eating, exercise, and other daily habits to help prevent heart disease

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

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What Is Congestive Heart Failure

CHF usually develops over a long period of time. The course and symptoms of heart failure depend on which regions of the heart are affected.

CHF can lead to severe complications, and the condition requires ongoing medical treatment.

Types of CHF include:

• Right-sided heart failure: The heart does not sufficiently accommodate blood returning from the rest of the body.
• Left-sided heart failure: The heart cannot efficiently pump oxygenated blood throughout the body,

CHF can also be caused by heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Heart failure on one side of the heart predisposes to heart failure on the other side, so it is common to have both types.

Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

The large majority of patients presenting with AHF do so in the context of pre-existing cardiomyopathy, a situation described as acute decompensated heart failure . There are a number of key differences between this group of patients and those presenting with de novo AHF that have implications for how haemodynamic compromise is assessed and how the condition is managed.

Unlike with de novo AHF, patients with ADHF tend to present with signs and symptoms of congestion and fluid retention rather than with pulmonary oedema or cardiogenic shock that characterise acute LV systolic dysfunction. This is the result of the chronic, often dysregulated, neuro-humoral compensatory mechanisms which act to maintain a haemodynamic status quo despite worsening LV function. Decompensation occurs when the balance tips towards fluid overload as the compensatory mechanisms prove inadequate or indeed fail all together. This is borne out by data from the IMPACT-HF registry which shows that acute decompensated heart disease takes a more insidious course and patients present to hospital in extremis following reported symptoms of congestion predating their admission by days or even weeks .

Patients with ADHF present with a more insidious onset complicated by multiple medical co-morbidities and often with congestion as their predominant clinical feature. Management is aimed at treating intercurrent precipitants and encouraging adherence to disease-modifying therapy.

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Treatments For Heart Failure

Treatment for heart failure usually aims to control the symptoms for as long as possible and slow down the progression of the condition.

How you’re treated will depend on what is causing your heart failure.

Common treatments include:

• lifestyle changes including eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly and stopping smoking
• medicine a range of medicines can help many people need to take 2 or 3 different types
• devices implanted in your chest these can help control your heart rhythm
• surgery such as a or a heart transplant

Treatment will usually be needed for life.

A cure may be possible when heart failure has a treatable cause. For example, if your heart valves are damaged, replacing or repairing them may cure the condition.

History And Physical Exam

A clinician listens to your heart and lungs and measures your blood pressure and weight. They will also ask about your:

• Familys medical history, especially previous cardiac problems
• Medications, including prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs and supplements
• Personal medical history

Blood tests can measure several things related to heart failure:

• Sodium and potassium levels
• Creatinine, which helps measure how well your kidneys are working
• B-type natriuretic peptide , a hormone released from the ventricles in response to increased wall tension that occurs with heart failure

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How Common Is Pulmonary Hypertension

Some types of PH are rare, such as pulmonary arterial hypertension and PH caused by blood clots. But other types are much more common, especially PH caused by heart or lung problems.

We dont know exactly how many people around the world have pulmonary hypertension. But some estimates show PH may affect 1 in 100 people. This means 50 million to 70 million people are living with PH.

PH is even more common among older adults. Around the world, about 1 in 10 adults over age 65 have PH.

Researchers believe the number of people diagnosed with PH will rise in the next few decades.

How Is Heart Failure Diagnosed

To find out if you have heart failure, your doctor will:

• Ask about your medical history, including your symptoms
• Ask about your family health history, including relatives who have had heart failure
• Do a physical exam

In some cases, your doctor may refer you to a cardiologist for tests, diagnosis, and care.

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What Are The Treatments For Heart Failure

Your treatment will depend on the type of heart failure you have and how serious it is. There’s no cure for heart failure. But treatment can help you live longer with fewer symptoms.

Even with treatment, heart failure usually gets worse over time, so you’ll likely need treatment for the rest of your life.

Most treatment plans include:

You may need heart surgery if:

• You have a congenital heart defect or damage to your heart that can be fixed.
• The left side of your heart is getting weaker and putting a device in your chest could help. Devices include:
• A biventricular pacemaker .
• A mechanical heart pump or a total artificial heart).

Your heart doctor recommends a heart transplant because your heart failure is life-threatening and nothing else is helping.

As part of your treatment, you’ll need to pay close attention to your symptoms, because heart failure can worsen suddenly. Your provider may suggest a cardiac rehabilitation program to help you learn how to manage your condition.

What Is The Outlook With Heart Failure

With the right care, congestive heart failure wont stop you from doing the things you enjoy. Your prognosis, or outlook for the future, will depend on:

• How well your heart muscle is working.
• How well you respond to your treatment plan.
• How well you follow your treatment plan.

One study says that people with heart failure have a life span 10 years shorter than those who dont have heart failure. Another study showed that the survival rates of people with chronic heart failure were 80% to 90% for one year, but that dropped to 50% to 60% for year five and down to 30% for 10 years.

A different study found that people who had heart failure and were discharged from the hospital had expected life spans ranging from three to 20 years, depending on various factors like age and gender. Its important to look at your specific situation when considering your prognosis.

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How The Normal Heart Works

The normal healthy heart is a strong, muscular pump a little larger than a fist. It pumps blood continuously through the circulatory system.

The heart has four chambers, two on the right and two on the left:

• Two upper chambers called atria
• Two lower chambers called ventricles

The right atrium takes in oxygen-depleted blood from the rest of the body and sends it through the right ventricle where the blood becomes oxygenated in the lungs.

Oxygen-rich blood travels from the lungs to the left atrium, then on to the left ventricle, which pumps it to the rest of the body.

The heart pumps blood to the lungs and to all the bodys tissues through a sequence of highly organized contractions of the four chambers. For the heart to function properly, the four chambers must beat in an organized way.

Symptoms Of Congestive Heart Failure

The severity and duration of heart failure symptoms depend on several factors, including the type and class of heart failure.

Some of the most common symptoms include:

• Shortness of breath: Thismay be more prominent with exertion or when lying down. Shortness of breath with exertion occurs due to insufficient blood supply to the body’s cells and tissues with left heart failure. Shortness of breath when lying down can develop when fluid congestion backs up in the lungs due to right heart failure.
• Dizziness, confusion, trouble concentrating, and/or fainting: This can occur with even a mild deficiency of oxygen-rich blood flow to the brain.
• Fatigue: Inadequate supply of oxygen-rich blood to the body’s organs and muscles leads to fatigue.
• Diminished ability to exercise: Due to fatigue and shortness of breath.
• Nocturia : This is caused by an excess of blood flowing through the kidneys when lying down at night. When the kidneys make more urine, it causes an increase in urination.
• Edema : Typically affecting the ankles, feet, lower legs, and abdomen, due to backup of blood to the right side of the heart with right-sided heart failure.
• Rapid or irregular heartbeats : With inefficient heart-pumping action, the heart may intermittently speed up.
• A dry, hacking cough: This is caused by pulmonary edema .

It is important to note that symptoms of CHF may wax and wane. If your symptoms improve, you should continue to follow your CHF treatment plan.

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Deaths From Heart Failure Vary By Geography

Heart failure is more common in some areas of the United States than in others. Below is a map showing the rate of death from heart failure by county during 20142016.

The map shows that concentrations of counties with the highest heart disease death rates meaning the top quintile are located primarily in Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Pockets of high-rate counties also were found in Oregon, Utah, Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

Heart Failure Due To Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Heart failure can arise in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy because of predominant diastolic dysfunction, associated mitral incompetence, or the development of systolic dysfunction. The management of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and its complications is often very different from the management of dilated cardiomyopathy , thereby underscoring the value of echocardiography in the evaluation of the patient with heart failure.

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Living Well With Heart Failure

The Heart Foundation has developed a range of resources for people living with heart failure, and their families and carers.

• Living well with heart failure booklet, which includes information about what to do when you feel sick, managing symptoms, and monitoring your fluid and salt intake.
• Living well with heart failure video series, which includes seven videos covering topics to help you manage your condition. The series is available in a range of languages.
• Heart failure fact sheet, which includes questions to ask your health professional and what changes you might need to make to your daily life.
• Heart failure action plan, which helps you to identify the most important parts of your heart failure management to focus on right now.

Access these resources on the Heart Foundation website.

What Are The Complications Of Heart Failure

Some of the complications from heart failure include:

• Irregular heartbeat.

• History of taking drugs that can damage your heart muscle, such as some cancer drugs.

Stage B

Stage B is considered pre-heart failure. It means your healthcare provider has given you a diagnosis of systolic left ventricular dysfunction but youve never had symptoms of heart failure. Most people with Stage B heart failure have an echocardiogram that shows an ejection fraction of 40% or less. This category includes people who have heart failure and reduced EF due to any cause.

Stage C

People with Stage C heart failure have a heart failure diagnosis and currently have or previously had signs and symptoms of the condition.

There are many possible symptoms of heart failure. The most common are:

• Shortness of breath.

• Need to urinate while resting at night.
• Rapid or irregular heartbeats .
• A dry, hacking cough.
• A full or hard stomach, loss of appetite or upset stomach .

There may be times that your symptoms are mild or you may not have any symptoms at all. This doesn’t mean you no longer have heart failure. Symptoms of heart failure can range from mild to severe and may come and go.

Unfortunately, heart failure usually gets worse over time. As it worsens, you may have more or different signs or symptoms.Its important to let your doctor know if you have new symptoms or if your symptoms get worse.

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