CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE: 2012

Thursday, February 9, 2012

How To Prevent Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure can be the ultimate result of a number of diseases, or lifestyle choices, that damage the heart. Some of these can be prevented. Others cannot be prevented but can be treated successfully.

Exercise like jogging can
prevent CHF

Some examples of illnesses or lifestyle choices that can lead to congestive heart failure are as follows:

Coronary heart disease (coronary artery disease), including heart attack

· Uncontrolled high blood pressure (hypertension)

· Uncontrolled high cholesterol

· Diabetes

· Congenital heart disease (a heart condition that one is born with)

· Infection (particularly some common viruses that can rarely severely affect the heart and cannot be reliably predicted or prevented)

· Damage to the heart valves (possibly from IV drug use)

· Alcoholism

· Smoking

In some cases, a family history of heart failure can be present. Many cases are a combination of factors, and in other cases, the cause is unknown.

If you have congestive heart failure, you are at increased risk of developing pneumonia. You probably should receive both the pneumonia vaccination and annual flu shots. Ask your health care provider to be sure.

source: emedicinehealth

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Medical Therapy of Congestive Heart Failure

This article is continuation of my previous article, Non-Medical Therapy of Congestive Heart Failure

Surgery

Heart valve repair or replacement. Cardiologists may recommend heart valve repair or replacement surgery to treat an underlying condition that led to congestive heart failure. Heart valve surgery may relieve your symptoms and improve your quality of life.

Coronary bypass surgery. Cardiologists may recommend coronary bypass surgery to treat your congestive heart failure if your disease results from severely narrowed coronary arteries.

Heart transplant. Some people who have severe congestive heart failure may need a heart transplant.

Myectomy. In a myectomy, the surgeon removes part of the overgrown septal muscle in your heart to decrease the blockage that occurs in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Surgeons may perform myectomy when medication no longer relieves your symptoms.

Medical devices

Ventricular assist device

Ventriculaar Assist Device

Ventricular assist device (VAD). When your weakened heart needs help pumping blood, surgeons may implant a VAD into your abdomen and attach it to your heart. These mechanical heart pumps can be used either as a "bridge" to heart transplant or as permanent therapy for people who aren't candidates for a transplant. Mayo Clinic offers VADs to many people who may have no other options.

Cardiac resynchronization therapy device

Cardiac resynchronization therapy device

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device (biventricular cardiac pacemaker). A cardiac resynchronization therapy device (biventricular cardiac heart pacemaker) sends specifically timed electrical impulses to your heart's lower chambers. CRTs are suitable for people who have moderate to severe congestive heart failure and abnormal electrical conduction in the heart.

Internal cardiac defibrillator (ICD). Doctors implant ICDs under the skin to monitor and treat fast or abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias), which occur in some people who have heart failure. The ICD sends electrical signals to your heart if it detects a high or abnormal rhythm to shock your heart into beating more slowly and pumping more effectively.

Source: mayoclinic.org

Non Medical Therapy of Congestive Heart Failure

Lifestyle modifications

After congestive heart failure is diagnosed, treatment should be started immediately. Perhaps the most important and yet most neglected aspect of treatment involves lifestyle modifications. Sodium causes an increase in fluid accumulation in the body's tissues. Because the body is often congested with excess fluid, patients become very sensitive to the levels of intake of sodium and water. Restricting salt and fluid intake is often recommended because of the tendency of fluid to accumulate in the lungs and surrounding tissues. An American "no added salt" diet can still contain 4 to 6 grams (4000 to 6000 milligrams) of sodium per day. In individuals with congestive heart failure, an intake of no more than 2 grams (2000 milligrams) of sodium per day is generally advised. Reading food labels and paying close attention to total sodium intake is very important. Severe restriction of alcohol consumption also is advised.

Likewise, the total amount of fluid consumed must be regulated. Although many people with congestive heart failure take diuretics to aid in the elimination of excess fluid, the action of these medications can be overwhelmed by an excess intake of water and other fluids. The maxim that "drinking eight glasses of water a day is healthy" certainly does not apply to patients with congestive heart failure. In fact, patients with more advanced cases of congestive heart failure are often advised to limit their total daily fluid intake from all sources to 2 quarts. The above guidelines for sodium and fluid intake may vary depending on the severity of congestive heart failure in any given individual and should be discussed with their physician.

Aerobic exercise, once discouraged for congestive heart failure patients, has been shown to be beneficial in maintaining overall functional capacity, quality of life, and perhaps even improving survival.

If this way does not work, then you can perform a medical treatment such as surgery, etc.

Causes, Signs & Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure

Before you read this article, make sure you have read my previous article that contains descriptions of Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a syndrome, not a disease, that can be brought about by several causes. CHF is a weakening of the heart brought on by an underlying heart or blood vessel problem, often a combination of several different problems, including the following:

Weakened heart muscle, Damaged heart valves, Blocked blood vessels supplying the heart muscle (coronary arteries); leading to a heart attack, Toxic exposures; like alcohol or cocaine, Infections, High blood pressure that results in thickening of the heart muscle (left ventricular hypertrophy), Pericardial disease; such as pericardial effusion (a large collection of fluid around the heart in the space between the heart muscle and the thick layer of pericardium surrounding the heart) and/or a thickened pericardium, which does not allow the heart to fill properly, Congenital heart diseases, Prolonged; serious arrhythmias.

An early symptom of congestive heart failure is fatigue. While fatigue is a sensitive indicator of possible underlying congestive heart failure, it is obviously a nonspecific symptom that may be caused by many other conditions. The person's ability to exercise may also diminish. Patients may not even sense this decrease and they may subconsciously reduce their activities to accommodate this limitation.

As the body becomes overloaded with fluid from congestive heart failure, swelling (edema) of the ankles and legs or abdomen may be noticed. This can be referred to as "right sided heart failure" as failure of the right sided heart chambers to pump venous blood to the lungs to acquire oxygen results in buildup of this fluid in gravity-dependent areas such as in the legs.

The most common cause of congestive heart failure is longstanding failure of the left heart, which may lead to secondary failure of the right heart. Right-sided heart failure can also be caused by severe lung disease (referred to as "cor pulmonale"), or by intrinsic disease of the right heart muscle (less common)

In addition, fluid may accumulate in the lungs, thereby causing shortness of breath, particularly during exercise and when lying flat. In some instances, patients are awakened at night, gasping for air.

Some may be unable to sleep unless sitting upright.

The extra fluid in the body may cause increased urination, particularly at night.

Accumulation of fluid in the liver and intestines may cause nausea, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite.

Congestive Heart Failure

What is Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) -- Inability of the heart to keep up with the demands on it and, specifically, failure of the heart to pump blood with normal efficiency. When this occurs, the heart is unable to provide adequate blood flow to other organs such as the brain, liver and kidneys.

Heart failure sounds frightening because it sounds like the heart just stops working. Do not be discouraged by the term heart failure-the heart has not stopped beating or pumping. Heart failure means the tissues of the body are temporarily not receiving enough blood and oxygen. With advancements in diagnosis and therapy for heart failure, patients are feeling better and living longer.

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is generally classified as systolic or diastolic heart failure and becomes progressively more common with increasing age.

Systolic heart failure: The pumping action of the heart is reduced or weakened. A common clinical measurement is the ejection fraction (EF). The ejection fraction is a calculation of how much blood is ejected out of the left ventricle (stroke volume), divided by the maximum volume remaining in the left ventricle at the end of diastole or relaxation phase. A normal ejection fraction is greater than 50%. Systolic heart failure has a decreased ejection fraction of less than 50%.

Diastolic heart failure: The heart can contract normally but is stiff, or less compliant, when it is relaxing and filling with blood. This impedes blood filling into the heart and produces backup into the lungs and CHF symptoms. Diastolic heart failure is more common in patients older than 75 years, especially in women with high blood pressure. In diastolic heart failure, the ejection fraction is normal.

What causes it?

See Causes, Signs & Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure