Left Sided Heart Failure

Evolving Case Study: Right Sided Heart Failure Right sided heart failure is a complication of the heart regarding right ventricular failure. It is important to obtain a good history, assessment, diagnostics, and laboratory results to determine severity and cause of this disease process.

To understand the signs and symptoms of left-sided versus right-sided heart failure, remember that left-sided signs and symptoms are found in the lungs. Left begins with L, as does lung. Any signs and symptoms not related to the lungs are caused by right-sided failure (Williams and Hopper). Some signs and symptoms of heart failure are shortness of breath (dyspnea), fatigue, chronic cough or wheezing, rapid or irregular heartbeat, lack of appetite or nausea, mental confusion or impaired thinking, fluid buildup and swelling, and rapid weight gain, and the need to urinate more at night. In order to determine heart failure the physician will do a diagnostic test which includes a chest x-ray, echocardiogram, ejection fraction (EF), and electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG).

The heart’s moves oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the left atrium onto the left ventricle which then pumps it to the rest of the body. The left ventricle generates the heart’s pumping power therefore it is larger than the other chambers. In left-sided heart failure, the left side of the heart works harder to pump the same amount of blood that is normally pumped. There are two types of left-sided heart failure- the systolic and the diastolic. In systolic failure, the left ventricle is not able to normally contract and the heart cannot push enough blood into the circulation. In systolic failure, the left ventricle is not able to relax because the muscle has become stiff. As a result, the heart cannot properly fill with blood during resting period between each beat. Right-sided heart failure is another type of heart failure that results from the failure of the left-side. The heart’s pumping action moves blood that returns to the heart though the veins through the right atrium and then onto the right ventricle which pumps the blood back out of the heart into the lungs to be replenished with oxygen. When the left ventricle

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.

The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation defines heart failure (HF) as “a common condition that develops after the heart becomes damaged or weakened by diseases of the heart including heart attacks and other medical conditions. (Heart Failure, 2013)” HF is a chronic medical condition causing the body’s heart to weaken and become unable to pump and supply enough blood and nutrients to the meet the body’s needs. There are four different types of HF: left-side, right-side, systolic and diastolic heart failure (Heart Failure, 2015). Left-side heart failure causes shortness of breath due to fluid backing up in the lungs. Right-side heart failure causes fluid retention in abdomen, legs and feet causing swelling. Systolic heart failure is when the left ventricle can’t contract fast enough, indicating a pumping issue and diastolic heart failure is when the left ventricle can’t relax enough to fill properly, indicating a filling problem (Heart Failure, 2015). These abnormalities in heart function can result a homeostatic imbalance in the kidneys responding by causing the body to retain fluid and salt. The term congestive heart failure (CHF) is used when the heart failure has worsened causing a backup of fluid and congesting extremities and other organs (Heart Failure, 2015). Often, you can control heart failure by taking medicine, changing your lifestyle, and treating the condition that caused it but there is no cure at this time.

CHF stands for congestive heart failure. There are several types of congestive heart failure. There is left sided heart failure which may cause fluid to back up into your lungs which will cause shortness of breath. Right sided heart failure may cause fluid to back up into your abdomen, and other body parts. Systolic heart failure causes the left ventricle can’t contract vigorously, which causes problems with the heart pumping blood. The final type is diastolic heart failure means the left ventricle can’t relax or fill up adequately.

CHF starts with no symptoms and slowly the patient experiences increasing difficulty breathing. With that, heart rates and respiratory rates increase and the patient becomes anxious. As CHF progresses, edema (retention of fluids) is found in the legs, feet, and ankles and the veins in the neck are distended. When the left side of the heart fails, there is more lung congestion and more respiratory issues. When the right side of the heart fails, the liver and spleen enlarge. With CHF, patients usually complain of chest discomfort, shortness of breath, and swelling of their limbs.

The right side of the heart brings in the circulated blood from the body and sends it to the lungs for oxygen circulation. When the left side of the heart weakens, the right side of the heart has to work harder to compensate. Again, as the heart muscle loses strength, blood and fluid become backed up in the body. The person may experience swelling and trouble catching breath. The symptoms of right sided heart failure are peripheral edema, ascites, hepatomegaly, increased jugular venous pressure, presence of a parasternal heave indicating the compensatory increase in contraction strength, congestion of the gastrointestinal tract resulting in weight loss, impaired liver

Right - sided failure is often a result of left - sided failure. When the left side fails, increased fluid pressure develops in the lungs and damages the heart’s right side. When pumping power is lost in the right side, blood backs up in the veins causing swelling in the legs and ankles.

It because the heart has weak or damaged ventricular walls that are not able to push enough blood into the body (Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms). Or perhaps it is because the ventricular walls are stiff therefore, the heart does not fill with enough blood. If a person has a left sided heart failure the left ventricle doesn’t deliver enough oxygenated blood full of rich nutrients to the body which causes the person to feel tired and out of breath. The left ventricle also increases the blood pressure in the blood vessels between the lungs and the left ventricle. This increases pressure and forces fluid out of your blood and into your lung tissues, which makes it difficult to breathe. If someone has right-sided heart failure he is unable to contract with enough force to send the blood to the lungs in consequence blood builds up in the veins, throughout the tissues in the body which is called edema. Over time the heart failure on either side of the heart results in weakened and enlarged ventricles resulting in less blood pumping to the body. To make up for the decreased amount of blood the nervous system sends out stress hormones that increase the speed and force of the heartbeat. Unfortunately, the continued release of these hormones makes the heart failure worse because they damage the muscle cells in the ventricles (Moore). The common cause of heart failure is

Heart failure is when the heart cannot keep up with the immense demands placed on it by the body, and it starts to compensate causing remodeling of the cardiac cells due to stronger cardiac contractions. The heart chambers expand so they can fill with more blood to pump to the rest of the body, and the heart rate will increase to meet these demands (American Heart Association, 2015). Heart failure is the inability of the heart to fill and pump effectively enough to meet the metabolic demands of the body resulting in pulmonary and venous congestion (Lam et al., 2007). Over time the body can no longer compensate, and the person becomes symptomatic and progresses into worsening heart failure. The pulmonary and venous congestion or “fluid overload” will manifest itself in the form of lower extremity edema, shortness of breath, fatigue and even chest pain, which interferes with quality of life (Colucci, 2015).

Congestive Heart Failure is a condition in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to meet the needs of the rest of the body (Department of Health & Human Services, 2012). The failure can occur in on either side of the heart. In left-side heart failure, fluid backs up into the lungs, causing shortness of breath, due to the fact that the blood entering the left side of the heart comes from the pulmonary artery, and when the left ventricle cannot pump fluid out of the heart or when the left atrium cannot empty completely into the ventricle it backs up into the lungs. In right-side heart failure, fluid can back up into the abdomen, legs, and feet, causing swelling. The blood being pumped into the right

The body needs a certain amount of cardiac output to maintain its basic functions. In congestive heart failure the body needs more output than the heart can put out. To make up for the lack of cardiac output, the heart sends all of its output to the essential organs such as the brain and lungs. It neglects to send as much blood to the extremities. This is why in congestive heart failure patents, edema is usually present. Fatigue results from the heart having to work extra hard to send blood to only a few essential organs. This is why fatigue is considered the first symptom of congestive heart failure. Congestive Heart Disease can happen on either side of the heart, or it can effect both sides. When the heart cannot keep up with what the body needs capillary pressure increases. When this capillary pressure increases it causes sodium to build up, and the body does not excrete the

Symptoms of a patient with congestive heart failure differ depending on the side of the heart that is not functioning properly. Left sided heart failure

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