Left Sided Heart Failure

Heart failure can be attributed to either right sided, left or both. Left-sided heart failure is of two types, systolic failure and diastolic failure. Systolic failure is the when the left ventricle loses its ability to contract normally. The heart cannot pump with enough force to push enough blood into circulation. Diastolic failure is when the left ventricle loses its ability to relax normally. Which results in the heart not being able to fill with blood during the resting period. Both result in a decrease in cardiac output. (AHA, 2012). A decrease in the cardiac output into the systemic circulation causes blood to accumulate in the left ventricle, left atrium, and pulmonary circulation. This increase

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

Left-sided heart failure is the most common type of heart failure, and it is a result of left-ventricular dysfunction. This disease poses a significant threat to patients because the primary function of the left side of the heart is to provide sufficient oxygenated blood to satisfy the metabolic demands of the body’s cells. Understanding the main function of this portion of the heart will help with the understanding of other complications associated with this diseased. Left-sided heart failure is usually the result of the loss of heart muscle function, specifically in the left ventricle secondary to coronary artery disease, prolonged hypertension, or myocardial infection (Lewis et al. 2014, 766). The

Left sided heart failure occurs as a result of ineffective left ventricular contractile function. As the pumping ability of the left ventricle fails, cardiac output falls. Blood is no longer effectively pumped out into the body; it backs up into the left atrium and the into the lungs, causing pulmonary congestion, dyspnea, and activity intolerance. If the condition persists, pulmonary edema and right

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).

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.

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.

In left-sided heart failure specifically, the symptoms are pulmonary derived. Shortness of breath (SOB) with regular activities of daily living (ADL) is due to the fluid buildup in the lungs. Fatigue, dizziness and feeling tired are also common due to decrease in oxygenation to body tissues as well as episodes of coughing. If pink blood-tinged sputum is present it is indicative of pulmonary edema. Orthopnea, which is shortness of breath while lying down and relieved by sitting up is also common in left-sided heart failure. Orthopnea is due to the overload on the heart when the patient is lying down. As the body rises the heart doesn’t have to work as hard to pump and the body is relieved of the symptoms (Cadwallader,

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

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).

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

Right sided heart failure is often times a response to left sided heart failure. When the left side of the heart has failed, the blood backs up into the lungs due to a decrease in output so the blood then backs up into the right side of the heart causing problems with it too. Heart failure in the right ventricle comes from it not being able to eject an adequate amount of blood into the pulmonary system (Huether and McCance, 2012).

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

A person with left sided heart failure my experience SOB and increased episodes of coughing caused by fluid buildup in the lungs. Pulmonary edema often causes a patient to cough up blood-tinged phlegm. (Cadwallader p. 1143). The PMI is displaced toward the left anterior axillary line, and there is a presence of S3 caused by ventricular filling, and/or S4 resulting from atrial contraction against a noncompliant ventricle. (Schilling-McCann p. 176). The person may have cool, pale skin resulting from peripheral vasoconstriction. Restlessness and confusion is normally due to decreased cardiac output.

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.