Congestive Heart Failure Research Paper

Symptoms of congestive heart failure consist of fatigue, dependent edema, fluid build-up in the lungs, increase in urination because of the extra fluid, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and decreased appetite (Fundukian, 2011).  Diagnosis of CHF is done first by physical examination, such as heart rate, and heart sounds or murmurs. If a physician believes more tests are needed, common ones include an electrocardiogram or chest x-ray to detect previous heart attacks, arrhythmia, or heart enlargement, and echocardiogram using ultrasound to image the heart muscle, valves, and blood flow patterns. The physician may also want to do a heart catheterization, to allow the arteries of the heart to be visualized using angiography. Upon getting a diagnosis of CHF, the physician will usually start with asking the patient to change things in their diet, such going to a low sodium diet. They may also want to prescribe medications. Types of medications could include angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, which block formation of angiotensin II hormone, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) to block the action of angiotensin II at the receptor site, and diuretics, just to name a few (Fundukian, 2011).

CHF can be caused by many different reasons. Sometimes CHF can be a heart defect or can be caused by unhealthy lifestyles. “CHF is an ongoing condition in which the heart muscle is weakened and can’t pump as well as it normally does” (Congestive Heart Failure). When the heart becomes too weak to continue to pump blood throughout the body, it is called Congestive Heart Failure. When CHF first

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a condition that occurs when the heart is unable to pump blood with enough force to circulate it throughout the body (VanMeter &

The diagnosis is made when an ejection fraction of less than 40% is found during an echocardiogram test. Patients with known systolic heart failure and current or prior symptoms are Stage C. Most common symptoms include, shortness of breath, fatigue and reduced ability to exercise. Stage D is patients with systolic heart failure and presence of advanced symptoms after receiving optimum medical care. Other risk factors for heart failure are some diabetes medications, sleep apnea, congenital heart defects, viruses, and irregular heartbeats. Heart Failure can be treated and managed but not cured. It is a chronic condition.

Also, physicians need the routine lab testing results as this helps them diagnose and initiate treatment plans for patients with heart failure. The lab tests that are recommended by the American Heart Association and others to evaluate for heart failure are: a complete blood count (CBC), which may indicate anemia and possibly an infection as one of the possible causes of heart failure. A basic metabolic panel (BMP) would show serum electrolytes and may help with diagnosing fluid retention or renal failure. Also, B-type natriuretic peptide levels (BNP) are up in heart failure. A twelve lead electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), shows the electrical activity of the heart and may help reveal arrhythmias, infarctions, or even heart failure (Petersen, M., Wang, Y., Van der Laang., M. & Guzman, D.

Therapeutic measures for a patient with congestive heart failure would be daily weights, dietary sodium restrictions, positioning in high or semi-Fowler’s position, frequent vital signs, oxygen by cannula or mask, medical devices: pacemakers, internal cardiac defibrillator, biventricular cardiac pacemaker, ventricular assist device, medications: digoxin, diuretics, inotropes, nesiritide, beta blockers, surgery: heart valve repair or replacement, coronary

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

There are many different tests that can be done to tell whether a person has congestive heart failure. CHF is usually diagnosed by a physical exam and also the history of the patient. The history helps determine if there were any other incidents when the patient was short of breath or had trouble breathing with walking and so forth. An electrocardiogram is used to help determine the electrical impulses in the heart. An echocardiogram is used to show images of the heart and shows anything that may be deformed within it. A stress test may also be done to show how the heart handles exercise and also checks to see if the person may have coronary artery disease.

The doctor, cardiologist, and other medical professionals will be looking for certain things to determine if a person has heart failure; for example, a third heart beat (besides the usual “lub” “dub”). Heart failure is diagnosed by certain symptoms along with certain medical tests (Krum, 2009). Some medical tests conducted by various kinds of doctors are the following: Electrocardiograms, Echocardiography, and MRIs. An electrocardiogram is a machine that displays a person’s heartbeat to assess electrical and muscular purposes of the heart. Electrocardiograms are helpful because it can rule out a certain type of heart failure (Krum, 2009). Echocardiography uses ultrasound technology to examine the heart. This test can help with the diagnosis of heart failure because it can give the medical professional information about the left ventricle. An MRI is a medical exam to determine if someone has heart failure because it gives an evaluation of the

Next, the second most important is the symptoms of congestive heart failure. With aging and having congestive heart can have many symptoms that will go unnoticed. Some symptoms are severe and sometimes congestive heart failure can come and go. The symptoms include shortness of breath, chest pain, congest lungs, fluid and water retention, dizziness, fatigue, weakness, and rapid or irregular heartbeats. During congested lungs fluids are the backup that causes shortness of breath and will cause a hacking cough or wheezing. However, fluid and water retention giving less blood to the kidney’s, resulting having swollen ankles, legs, abdomen, and weight gain. Also includes more urination during throughout the night. On the other hand, the symptom

A person's symptoms can provide important clues to the presence of heart failure. (Cadwallader p. 1143). Some of these include: JVD, SOB, frequent coughing when lying down, edema, acites, fatigue, syncope, vertigo, and sudden death. (Cadwallader p. 1142).

Heart failure is a chronic disease that suddenly happened. Common symptoms of this disease are irregular heartbeat, often bloody coughs and reads. A person can lose talking lust meal, nausea, frequent urination night, but weight rises because of dangerous fluids and organs in the body to swell.

A congestive heart failure is a chronic condition in which the heart doesn’t pump blood as well as it could.

Coronary artery disease, viral infections, genetic disorders, substance abuse, and some medical conditions can all result in heart failure. Insufficent

Patients should know the warning signs of heart failure. In case of recurrence or worsening of the signs, patients should alert without waiting for a medical professional. These signs include: