Congestive heart failure differential diagnosis
Heart failure | |
ICD-10 | I50.0 |
---|---|
ICD-9 | 428.0 |
DiseasesDB | 16209 |
MedlinePlus | 000158 |
MeSH | D006333 |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Congestive heart failure should be distinguished from other conditions that cause dyspnea, fatigue and edema.
Disorders That Heart Failure is Confused With
Heart failure is a clinical syndrome of dyspnea, fatigue and edema. There are several disorders that cause heart failure and should not be confused with the syndrome of heart failure.
- Cardiac arrest and asystole refer to situations in which there is no cardiac output at all. Without urgent treatment these result in sudden death.
- Myocardial infarction ("Heart attack") refers to heart muscle damage due to an insufficient blood supply to the heart, usually as a result of a blocked coronary artery.
- Cardiomyopathy refers specifically to problems within the heart muscle, and these problems can result in heart failure. Ischemic cardiomyopathy implies that the cause of muscle damage is coronary artery disease. Dilated cardiomyopathy implies that the muscle damage has resulted in enlargement of the heart. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy involves enlargement and thickening of the heart muscle.