Congestive heart failure overview
| Heart failure | |
| ICD-10 | I50.0 |
|---|---|
| ICD-9 | 428.0 |
| DiseasesDB | 16209 |
| MedlinePlus | 000158 |
| eMedicine | med/3552 |
| MeSH | D006333 |
| Cardiology Network |
 Discuss Congestive heart failure overview further in the WikiDoc Cardiology Network |
| Adult Congenital |
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| Cardiac Rehabilitation |
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Overview of Congestive Heart Failure
One of the multiple definitions of heart failure is any condition of the heart that results in the inability of the heart to meet the demands of the circulation. It is also defined as complex clinical syndrome due to the abnormalities of the cardiac structure and /or function that impairs the left ventricle to fill or eject blood.The classic syndrome of heart failure is dyspnea, fatigue, and fluid retention.
Heart failure could results from abnormality of any one or combination of the components of the heart; the pericardium, myocardium, endocardium or even from the abnormality of great vessels. Heart failure was once thought to be secondary to depressed left ventricular ejection fraction, however studies have shown that approximately 50% of the patients who have heart failure have normal ejection fraction. Patient may be broadly classified as having heart failure with depressed left ventricular ejection fraction (systolic dysfunction) or normal or preserved ejection fraction (diastolic dysfunction). It is also common to have both systolic and diastolic dysfunction together at the same time.
Patients with heart failure present in different ways. Some patients present with exercise intolerance with little evidence of congestion or edema, others present with edema and congestion with minimal symptoms. Congestive heart failure is a outdated term as it was noted in the past that majority of the patients with heart failure were edematous or fluid overloaded. With the current medical and device therapy most patients are euvolumic , hence the term “heart failure” is preferred over “congestive heart failure”.
Heart failure is not synonymous with cardiomyopathy or left ventricular dysfunction, the latter terms are used to describe structural or functional abnormality that could lead to heart failure.Heart failure is as clinical syndrome charecterized by specific symptoms(dysnea and fatigue) in the history and signs(rales) on physical examination. There is no single test to diagnose heart failure.It is largely a clinical diagnosis based on careful history and physical examination.