Heart Failure Research Paper

Nearly 5.1 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with heart failure. Yet so many people don’t have a clue what it is until they have been diagnosed with it. Congestive Heart Failure, or CHF, is a disease that has many symptoms, can be tested and treated, has several causes, and can be avoided.

Situation: Two patients in their 70s present to the office at different times today, each with documented heart failure: one diastolic and the other systolic, and both are hypertensive. First, discuss the difference between systolic and diastolic heart failure, providing appropriate pathophysiology. ACEI/ARBs are the only medications prescribed for CHF that have been found to prolong life and improve the quality of that life. EXPLAIN the mechanism of action of ACEI/ARBs and how they affect morbidity and mortality in CHF. Be specific. Diuretics must be used very carefully in diastolic ventricular dysfunction. EXPLAIN this statement using appropriate physiology. Now considering all of the above, describe an appropriate comprehensive plan of

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart muscle becomes too weak to maintain an adequate cardiac output to meet the body’s

Risk factors play a role to cause congestive heart failure, but if having more than one of the risk factors, it increases one's risk. According to Daniel lee Kulick and Benjamin Wedro, Congestive heart failure is often a consequence of atherosclerotic heart disease and therefore the risk factors are the same. Poorly controlled high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, and family history are all contributors to being a risk factor of congestive heart failure. Heart valve disease becomes a risk factor of the patient throughout the years. Other causes of heart failure have their own set of risk factors and preferences and it becomes problem to those diseases.

Heart failure HF is a condition involving the heart muscle that is unable to pump enough blood through the body to meet its oxygen needs. HF is associated with conditions such coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, anemia, infection, thyrotoxicosis, hypothyroidism, dysrhythmias, bacterial endocarditis, pulmonary diseases, Paget’s disease, nutritional deficiencies and hypervolemia. HF main characteristic is ventricular dysfunction, usually left-sided heart failure develops first causing intolerance to exercise, reduction of quality of life and short life expectancy (Lewis, 2014).

Heart failure is a long-term (chronic) condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood through the body. When this happens, parts of the body do not get the blood and oxygen needed for them to function properly.

Cardiac failure in correlation with essential hypertension is the end product of several harmful aftereffects of dietary salt.46 Primarily there is systolic dysfunction due to the salt induced hypertension.47 Some older patients may develop diastolic dysfunction due to impaired ventricular filling, this usually precedes systolic dysfunction and is due to the collagen deposition and fibrosis of the ventricle which are closely linked with salt intake. Also, increase in the size of the muscle mass due to high salt intake, due to the hypertrophy and deposition of collagen and fibrous tissue, thickening of the coronary arteries as a result of high intake of dietary salt, which can be detected as an inappropriate coronary blood flow.48,49

“His heart is over flooded….” used to be the term for fluid overload or congestion associated to ailment of the heart. It is one of the phrases with which congestive coronary heart failure (CHF) was described in the Ebers papyrus written in 1550 BC, at some point of the reign of Amenhotep III, Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, according to Saba et al.6 In a assessment of coronary heart failure (HF) by means of Katz,7 he describes the Hippocratic Corpus, which describes rales already in the 4th century BC. Then Katz takes us through the history of HF with the aid of Galen who lived in the Roman Empire, who noticed the coronary heart distributing warmness in an ebb and flow. This was believed till 1628 when William Harvey described the circulation in animals as, “pulsatile movement”, and created the groundwork for understanding the circulation. The use of Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) was once described via William Withering, an English physician and botanist. He had discovered from a country woman that tea made from leaves of the foxglove used to be top for dropsy.

Heart failure may convey that the heart isn’t working anymore, but what it really means is that the heart isn’t pumping as well as it should be (REF). Heart failure is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood through to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen (REF). At first, the heart tries to make up for this by enlarging, developing more muscle mass, and pumping faster. As this happens, the blood vessels narrow to keep blood pressure up and the body diverts blood away from less important tissues and organs to maintain flow to the heart and brain (REF). Eventually, the body and heart cannot keep up and the patient begins to feel fatigue, breathing problems, weight gain with swelling in the feet, legs, ankles or stomach, and other symptoms that eventually leads to a hospital visit. The body’s coping mechanisms give us better understanding on why many are unaware of their condition until years after the heart declines (REF).

Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a disorder of the cardiovascular system that occurs when the heart cannot sufficiently pump blood to meet the body’s metabolic and oxygen needs. Insufficient contractility of the heart will cause intravascular and interstitial volume overload and poor tissue perfusion. CHF is classified according to the side of the heart affected. The onset of CHF increases with age, as over the age of 50, 1% will develop CHF and 10% over the age of 80. An individual with CHF will experience a reduced exercise tolerance, quality of life and shortened life span and the prognosis depends on underlying cause and the individual’s response to treatment.

Heart failure affects about 5.7 million adults in the United States and costs an estimated $30.7 billion every year. This condition occurs when the heart is unable to pump enough blood and oxygen to the body. A majority of patients can be treated using pharmacologic options, restricting sodium intake, and increasing daily physical activity. ¬1 However, a select group of patients will advance to a stage of heart failure where the heart can no longer pump adequate blood to fulfill their body’s requirements. These patients may benefit from an LVAD (left ventricular assist device) implant surgery. An LVAD is a surgically implanted mechanical pump which is attached to the heart. An LVAD functions by moving blood from the left ventricle to the aorta

6. What laboratory tests should be ordered for M.G. related to the order for furosemide (Lasix)? (Select all that apply)

A journey with heart failure has been a difficult one. It started out a few years ago when I turned 66 years ago. It started with what seemed like a bad flu. I went to go see my doctor and he told me that there was a bad flu going around that that I just need to ride it out and give it time to go away. After a few weeks, my breathing got worse so I went back to see it and he ran some tests and told me I had heart failure and not a flu. He gave me some medications that make me go to the bathroom very often and that helped me breathe better. He explained that my heart was weak and that I had extra fluid in my body and that is why my feet were swollen and I was having trouble breathing. The water pills have helped me

There are two types of heart failure: systolic and diastolic. “Systolic heart failure is the inability of the heart to squeeze enough blood from the ventricles (heart chambers) to supply the body's needs. Diastolic heart failure results from the inability of the heart muscle to relax in between heartbeats, causing a backup of blood in the heart's chambers and in the blood vessels” (The Journal of the American

But all forms of heart failure, even the mildest, are a serious health problem, which must be treated. To improve their chance of living longer, patients must take care of themselves, see their physician regularly, and closely follow treatments.