HEART FAILURE

Approximately 5,000,000 Americans live with heart failure today, 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, and more than 300,000 patients die each year from heart failure related causes.  Approximately 50% of patients that are diagnosed with heart failure die within 5 years (Hunt 2005).  The single most common reason for hospitalization in patients over 65 years old is heart failure.

Heart failure is a progressive disorder where damages to the heart causes weakening of the cardiovascular system  Heart failure is a complex syndrome that can  result from a variety of cardiac disorders that decreases the ability of the ventricles (right, left, or both) to either fill properly or eject adequately.

Patients with heart failure present with either or both of the following:  shortness of breath and fatigue and extracellular fluid retention, causing peripheral edema and pulmonary congestion.

The body compensates for a variety of problems that it encounters.  In the case of heart failure and the heart pumping less effectively than it needs to, the body attempts to increase blood volume in the body using the angio-renin-tensin system to hold onto water in the kidneys.  Also a decreased blood flow to the kidneys, due to the ineffective pumping of the heart, can also cause the body to hold onto fluid.

Symptoms that may occur, even with early stages of heart failure, are shortness of breath, decreased ability to exercise, and dizziness.  Patients with heart failure often have decreased blood pressure due to the poor pumping action of the heart.  This is turn can lead to dizziness.

*From Heart Failure Online

There are many conditions that can cause heart failure.  The most common is coronary artery disease (CAD).  Patients with CAD usually have obstructions in one or more of there coronary arteries, which impedes blood flow and thus oxygen delivery to the heart.

Please see the separate page dealing with coronary artery disease. Hypertension is another cause of heart failure.  This can lead to diastolic dysfunction which can be viewed on a separate page.  Problems with valves within the heart ( mitral, tricuspid, aortic, and pulmonic ) can also cause heart failure.  Another very common cause for heart failure is cardiomyopathy.  This is a disease of the heart muscle and will be dealt with in another section.