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Congestive Heart Failure is the heart’s failure to pump hard enough
to supply blood for the needs of the body’s other organs. This
doesn’t happen overnight, but is a gradual weakening of the heart
muscle over time.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute an
estimated 4.8 million Americans have congestive heart failure (CHF).
Equally frequent in men and women, the annual incidence of CHF
approaches 10 per 1,000 after age 65. It occurs twice as often in
people with hypertension and five times more often in people who
have experienced a heart attack.
CAUSES
A
multitude of conditions can lead to congestive heart failure.
Heart muscle (or valve) infections and diseases often lead to heart
failure. The most common diseases related to congestive heart
failure are Rheumatic fever or Heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy).
Individuals born with heart defects (congenital) may experience
heart failure as a result of their birth defect. Cases resulting
from blocked or narrowed arteries to the heart (CAD, coronary artery
disease) are the easiest to prevent through practicing a healthy
lifestyle.
RISK
FACTORS
Include all factors normally
associated with heart disease. These include being overweight,
eating a diet high in cholesterol, lack of exercise, and smoking.
Certain health conditions also increase your risk of CHF. These
include high blood pressure, previous heart attacks, and diabetes.
SYMPTOMS
Congestive heart failure symptoms include:
DIAGNOSIS
A
thorough history, physical examination, and laboratory tests
including blood tests, chest X-ray, electrocardiogram, and
echocardiogram are used to establish a diagnosis.
The
first steps in diagnosis are usually an electrocardiogram (EKG) to
measure the heart’s electrical function and a chest X-ray to see if
the heart is enlarged. Angiography and Echocardiography are two
other common tests. Angiographs are x-rays taken after injecting a
dye into the coronary arteries. The x-ray revels whether any
coronary arteries are blocked. Echocardiography (using ultrasound)
shows your doctor the thickness of the heart walls and its pumping
strength.
Other
possible tests include: an ejection fraction test used to measure
the left ventricle pumping efficacy for each heart contraction and
blood tests to look for abnormal levels of certain blood chemicals
which indicate strain on the kidney and liver from impaired heart
function. Many testing options exist and the ones chosen will depend
heavily on your doctor’s analysis of your symptoms and medical
history.
TREATMENT
By adopting a healthy lifestyle most people can radically improve
their health and enjoyment of life. For some all that is needed
are a change to a more appropriate diet and modification of
activities.
Others
may require medications to:
-
relax
and expand the blood vessels (thereby increasing blood flow)
-
increase heart muscle contractions
-
reduce
salt and water retention
-
reduce sympathetic (adrenalin like) stimulation of the heart
muscle.
For
advanced cases surgery, such as heart valve replacement or heart
transplant, may be the best solution.
PROGNOSIS
Mild to
moderate cases are treatable resulting in a happy and fulfilling
life. But CHF remains a highly lethal condition with half of the
diagnosed patients dead within 5 years. (NHLBI)
Doesn’t
this set you to thinking about taking lifestyle prevention
seriously?
PREVENTION
Exercise and eat a low fat diet.
Please visit the following sites for more
information.
American Heart Association:
Living with Heart
Failure
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute:
Congestive Heart Failure Data Fact
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