Heart failure

Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to fill with and pump blood.

Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF typically presents with shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, and bilateral leg swelling. The severity of the heart failure is mainly decided based on ejection fraction and also measured by the severity of symptoms. Other conditions that have symptoms similar to heart failure include obesity, kidney failure, liver disease, anemia, and thyroid disease.

Common causes of heart failure include coronary artery disease, heart attack, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, valvular heart disease, excessive alcohol consumption, infection, and cardiomyopathy. These cause heart failure by altering the structure or the function of the heart or in some cases both. There are different types of heart failure: right-sided heart failure, which affects the right heart, left-sided heart failure, which affects the left heart, and biventricular heart failure, which affects both sides of the heart. Left-sided heart failure may be present with a reduced reduced ejection fraction or with a preserved ejection fraction. Heart failure is not the same as cardiac arrest, in which blood flow stops completely due to the failure of the heart to pump.

Diagnosis is based on symptoms, physical findings, and echocardiography. Blood tests, and a chest x-ray may be useful to determine the underlying cause. Treatment depends on severity and case. For people with chronic, stable, or mild heart failure, treatment usually consists of lifestyle changes, such as not smoking, physical exercise, and dietary changes, as well as medications. In heart failure due to left ventricular dysfunction, angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), or angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors, along with beta blockers, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists and SGLT2 inhibitors are recommended. Diuretics may also be prescribed to prevent fluid retention and the resulting shortness of breath. Depending on the case, an implanted device such as a pacemaker or implantable cardiac defibrillator may sometimes be recommended. In some moderate or more severe cases, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) or cardiac contractility modulation may be beneficial. In severe disease that persists despite all other measures, a cardiac assist device ventricular assist device, or, occasionally, heart transplantation may be recommended.

Heart failure is a common, costly, and potentially fatal condition, and is the leading cause of hospitalization and readmission in older adults. Heart failure often leads to more drastic health impairments than the failure of other, similarly complex organs such as the kidneys or liver. In 2015, it affected about 40 million people worldwide. Overall, heart failure affects about 2% of adults, and more than 10% of those over the age of 70. Rates are predicted to increase.

The risk of death in the first year after diagnosis is about 35%, while the risk of death in the second year is less than 10% in those still alive. The risk of death is comparable to that of some cancers. In the United Kingdom, the disease is the reason for 5% of emergency hospital admissions. Heart failure has been known since ancient times in Egypt; it is mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus around 1550 BCE.

The term 'cardiovascular insufficiency' is sometimes used when the heart does not function effectively as a pump and fails to circulate enough blood through the circulatory system to meet the body's needs.This generally leads to the syndrome of heart failure, a combination of signs and symptoms when the heart functions poorly as a pump. This leads to high filling pressure in the left atrium with fluid accumulation and water retention. Most of the visible signs of heart failure are the result of this fluid accumulation (edema) and the adjective congestion is added to the definition of heart failure. Impaired ejection can lead to inadequate blood flow to the body tissues, resulting in ischemia.

Congestive heart failure is a pathophysiological condition in which the heart's output is insufficient to meet the needs of the body and lungs. The term "congestive heart failure" is often used because one of the most common symptoms is congestion or fluid accumulation in the tissues and veins of the lungs or other parts of a person's body.