Congestive Heart Failure Essay

Congestive cardiac failure, also known as heart failure, occurs when the heart is weak and unable to sufficiently supply blood the body needs to function. Heart failure can often be successfully treated with

Systolic heart failure is characterized by enlarged ventricles that are unable to fully contract to pump enough blood into circulation to adequately perfuse tissues. The enlargement in ventricles is due to an increased end-systolic volume. If the heart is not able to sufficiently pump the expected volume of blood with each contraction, which in a normal healthy heart is 50-60%, there will be a residual volume left in the heart after every pump (Heart Healthy Women, 2012). With the next period of filling, the heart will receive the same amount of blood volume from the atria combined with that residual volume from the previous contraction. This causes the ventricles to have to dilate to accommodate this increase in volume. The dilation causes the walls of the ventricles to stretch and become thin and weak. Also the myocardium, the muscle layer of the heart, will stretch and not be able to adequately make a full and forceful enough contraction to push blood from the ventricles (Lehne, 2010).

In systolic ventricular dysfunction or systolic heart failure the heart is not able to produce enough output for adequate tissue perfusion. Heart rate and stroke volume produce cardiac output. Contractility, preload, and afterload influence the heart’s stroke volume. These factors are important in understanding the pathophysiologic consequences of this syndrome and possible treatments. Patients with systolic heart failure usually have dilated, large ventricles and impaired systolic function.

Congestive Heart Failure is when the heart's pumping power is weaker than normal. It does not mean the heart has stopped working. The blood moves through the heart and body at a slower rate, and pressure in the heart increases. This means; the heart cannot pump enough oxygen and nutrients to meet the body's needs. The chambers of the heart respond by stretching to hold more blood to pump through the body or by becoming more stiff and thickened. This only keeps the blood moving for a short while. The heart muscle walls weaken and are unable to pump as strongly. This makes the kidneys respond by causing the body to retain fluid and sodium. When the body builds up with fluids, it becomes congested. Many conditions can cause heart

Congestive heart failure is a progressive condition that worsens over time, especially if it goes unchecked. With congestive heart failure, the heart is weakened due to a number of conditions — ranging from high blood pressure to coronary artery disease. Due to this weakness, the heart can’t pump blood throughout the body at a normal rate, building pressure in the heart and reducing the flow of oxygen. As a result, fluid builds in the lungs, kidneys, and other areas of the body.

Congestive heart failure describes the inability or failure (chronic, progressive condition) of the heart to adequately meet the needs of organs and tissues for oxygen and nutrients. This decrease in cardiac output, the amount of blood that the heart pumps, is not adequate to circulate the blood returning to the heart from the body and lungs, causing fluid (mainly water) to leak from capillary blood vessels. This leads to the symptoms that may include shortness of breath, weakness, and swelling. Many disease processes can impair the pumping efficiency of the heart to cause congestive heart failure. In the United States, the most common causes of congestive heart failure are:

Congestive heart failure is when the heart weakens and the heart cannot pump enough blood to the body, or enough oxygen to the lungs. The picture shows a healthy heart and the proper flow and a heart that has the condition congestive heart failure. You can see that the heart on the left is slightly bigger in a sense. The condition narrows the arteries in the heart causing it hard to pump blood throughout the body. The symptoms of CHF: shortness of breath when laying down, fatique and weakness, edema (swelling of any organ or body

Heart failure is term that is used to describe the heart’s inability to work efficiently as a pump. In order to decipher if an individual is likely to have heart failure is through their health history. Common backgrounds associated are diabetes mellitus, kidney dysfunction, hypertension, chronic lung disease, angina, myocardial infarction, and ischemic heart disease (Kirk, 2011). It is accompanied by shortness of breath on exertion, decreased exercise tolerance, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, orthopnea, ankle swelling, sudden weight gain, lack of appetite or nausea and difficulty concentrating (Kirk, 2011). In worsening conditions it could progress to fluid buildup, rapid or irregular heartbeat, chest pains , and sudden

Congestive heart failure is a health condition pertaining to the inefficiency of the pumping of the heart. Congestive heart failure occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood supply to the rest of the body (Heart failure fact sheet, 2016). It is necessary for blood to circulate throughout the body in order to maintain bodily function. However, when blood is unable to exit the heart, it begins to collect in the chambers. This is the indication of congestive heart failure, the accumulation of fluids in the heart will result in critical health issues that demand immediate medical attention. Congestive heart failure is a chronic condition, it can be developed overtime accompanied with reoccurring signs and symptoms (Mosterd, A., & Hoes

Over the years there has been some controversy on defining congestive heart failure due to a vast variability of the clinical signs and symptoms (Coronel, 2001). The American Heart Association defines it as “a complex clinical syndrome that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the ventricle to fill or eject blood” (Veronique, 2013). In this case report will critically analyse the general information of the giving condition in relation to the patient’s case.

Heart failure may be right sided or left sided (or both). In LV failure, the most common symptoms are dyspnea, reflecting pulmonary congestion, and fatigue, reflecting low CO, tachycardia and tachypnea may also occur. Dyspnea usually occurs during exertion and is relieved by rest. Patients with severe LV failure may appear visibly dyspneic or cyanotic, hypotensive, and confused or agitated because of hypoxia and poor cerebral perfusion. Some of these less specific symptoms (eg, confusion) are more common in the elderly 1.

I. Description: Congestive Heart Failure is more of a syndrome than a disease. Heart failure may be classified according to the side of the heart affected, (left- or right-sided failure), or by the cardiac cycle involved, (systolic or diastolic dysfunction). (Schilling-McCann p. 176). The word "failure" refers to the heart's inability to pump enough blood to meet the body's metabolic needs. (Schilling-McCann p. 176). When the heart fails to deliver adequate blood supply edema may develop. (Cadwallader p. 1141). Where edema occurs depends on what side of the heart is failing.

Although it is commonly used to describe individuals with heart failure, congestive heart failure is a specific type of heart failure. Congestive heart failure is a condition where heart muscles become less effective in pumping blood, as a result insufficient amounts of oxygen and nutrients are circulated around the body to sustain the body’s needs. The decrease in effectiveness is due to damage in the heart muscles and its inability to heal itself. This causes an increase in pressure in the heart as well as slowing the rate at which blood is able to circulate through the heart. To compensate for this, the heart responds by thickening and stiffening the main pumping chambers of the heart, known as the ventricles, or by stretching the chambers

Heart failure describes the heart’s inability to function properly, meaning the heart is unable to pump efficiently throughout the body. Thus causing the heart to work extra hard in order to compensate the body’s needs, but this ultimately leads to failure. And due to Mrs. Harris’s hypertension and alcohol consumption, she is now displaying signs and symptoms of congestive heart failure, as both are major risk factors. Heart failure can be seen in the left side, which is also known as congestive heart failure, and the right side of heart. The left side is typically the first side to fail, as the left ventricle is the heart’s largest chamber and the most powerful.

Heart disease is a chronic, progressive medical condition that affects cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous systems. The heart is not able to pump adequate amount of blood to fuel the body properly. The heart is not able to keep up with its workload. There are several different kinds of heart failure. Among them, one is left-sided heart failure, in which the left side of the heart works harder to pump blood. The pumping action moves oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the left atrium, left ventricle, and eventually to the other parts of the body. The left ventricle supplies as the source of pumping power, so it is larger and essential for normal function to be maintained. Two types of left-sided heart failure are systolic failure and