Left Sided Heart Failure Research Paper

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).

When CHF starts to become worse, fluid can start to fill up in a person’s lungs and sometimes even throughout a person’s body. The fluid could cause a person to feel out of breath even while resting, swelling in the legs, ankles, or feet, weight gain, feeling bloated, and coughing, wheezing, and having to use the bathroom more at night. There is also a possibility that CHF can happen all of a sudden. When it starts to happen, it is called sudden heart failure. It will eventually cause congestion from fluid building up in the lungs. Symptoms can start to happen by having severe shortness of breath, an irregular or maybe even a fast heart beat and it may even cause coughing up foamy, pink mucus (Heart-Failure

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

With left-sided heart failure a patient can suffer from fluid in the lungs, shortness of breath and pulmonary edema, and fatigue. Since the heart can not pump the adequate amount of blood to the rest of the body, there is a lack of oxygen in the body and this results in fatigue. Left-sided heart failure causes an increase in pressure within the vessels in the lungs, which can lead to an accumulation of fluid within the lungs, which leads to shortness of breath and pulmonary edema. There is a wide variety of causes of left-sided heart failure with include consuming too much alcohol, suffering from a heart attack, infections of the heart muscle, increased blood pressure, hypothyroidism, narrow heart valves, and any disease that can cause damage to the heart muscle. Left-sided heart failure in children is often caused by birth defects including abnormal

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.

Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction (LVSD, but commonly referred to as heart failure) is a chronic, progressive cardiac syndrome in which a damaged heart fails to beat efficiently and deliver enough blood to meet the body's needs. Although coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common cause, for example, myocardial infarction, and many of the conditions are intertwined, there are several other causes of heart failure including cardiomyopathies, hypertension and valve disease.

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).

Right-sided heart failure can be ruled in. When the heart is backed up it produces an overload of fluid in the lungs and entire body. As fluid accumulates in the lungs it can cause chest tightness, sob, jugular vein distention and coughing which produces a pink frothy colored sputum in which patient is positive for. Although this diagnosis has strong symptomology the BNP is normal and the diagnosis of Heart failure may be ruled out. (Dunphy & Winland-Brown,

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.

There are two types of heart failure: systolic heart failure and diastolic heart failure. In systolic heart failure, left ventricle have difficulty contracting and ejecting blood into the circulation,

Heart failure is defined as “ the pathophysiologic condition in which the heart is unable to generate an adequate cardiac output such that there is inadequate perfusion of tissues or increased diastolic filling pressure of the left ventricle, or both, so that pulmonary capillary pressures are increased.” Congestive Heart Failure (left heart failure) is categorized as “heart failure with reduced ejection fraction or heart failure with preserved ejection fraction” (McCance & Huethe, 2014, p. 1175). According the American Heart Association, this patient has Stage C Heart Failure with Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF) since his left ventricular ejection fraction is 30% (Yancy et al., 2013, p.

It has been known for a long time that the heart and the liver are strongly related. So, patients with heart failure develop manifestations from the liver. Congestive hepatopathy and cardiac cirrhosis includes a spectrum of hepatic derangements occurring in the setting of right-sided heart failure (Moller and Bernardi, 2013).

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.

Right-sided heart failure produces distortion in the veins returning blood to the heart and generalised oedema will follow. This is particularly noticeable as peripheral oedema in dependent tissues.

Left ventricular dysfunction is a condition that happens when the main pumping chamber of your heart (left ventricle) is not working well. The heart is a muscle and needs a constant supply of oxygen and blood. If the arteries that deliver the oxygen and blood are blocked, parts of the heart may become weak and not pump well. The heart may also get weak from having to constantly pump against the resistance of high blood pressure or narrow arteries.