Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure is a disorder in which the heart loses its ability to pump blood efficiently. Nearly five million Americans are living with heart failure with another 550,000 new cases being diagnosed each year.

Congestive heart failure is the most costly diagnosis in the Medicare population, and also the most common cause for hospitalization in patients over the age of 65 years. The number of newly diagnosed cases is growing on an annual basis, in part because of the aging of the population. The annual cost of heart failure care now may exceed $40 billion in the United States. These demographics have stimulated heightened interest in this diagnosis with resultant increased basic and clinical research, including the development of innovative programs for heart-failure management.

Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms

Patients with heart failure often complain of the following symptoms.

• Fatigue
• Dyspnea (shortness of breath)
• Edema (the build-up of excess fluid in body tissues)
• Persistent coughing or wheezing
• Lack of appetite or nausea
• Increased heart rate
• Confusion or impaired thinking

What Causes Congestive Heart Failure?

Weakening of the heart muscle most often causes heart failure. However, abnormal stiffening of the heart muscle also is a common cause. Diseases that predispose to heart failure include hypertension, myocardial infarction, alcohol abuse and infections of the heart. In some patients, the heart weakens without evident cause.

The evaluation of patients with heart failure focuses on defining the underlying cause of the condition, often with emphasis on finding correctable etiologies such as blockage of coronary arteries and abnormalities of heart valves. This assessment can be complex and costly.

Congestive Heart Failure Treatment

Although there is no cure, there are three main congestive heart failure treatments: lifestyle changes, medicine and surgery.

Lifestyle changes—In order to slow the diseases progression, relieve symptoms and improve the patient’s quality of life, lifestyle changes are recommended, including the following.

• Smoking cessation
• Eating a low fat diet
• Restrict your salt intake
• Exercise regularly
• Lose weight
• Avoid alcohol
• Reduce Stress
• Pay attention to symptoms and report any to your doctor
• Avoid or limit caffeine

Medicine—There have been dramatic advances in the types of medicines used to treat heart failure. Diuretics have been used for years, but now there is a special focus on categories of drugs that alter the performance of the heart itself, limit ongoing damage and allow sustained improvement in cardiac function. These advances have resulted in significant measurable increases in sense of well-being as well as clinically relevant improvement in survival: patients are living longer and better.

Surgery—Surgeries such as coronary artery bypass surgery (or a non-surgical procedure known as angioplasty) or heart transplants are available. Other surgical procedures currently are being investigated.

Because lifestyle and dietary modifications are so important in the management of this disease, close cooperation between the patients, their families and a number of different clinical disciplines is especially critical.

To make an appointment with a doctor, call toll-free 1.877.UT.CARES (1.877.882.2737).

Click here for more information on heart attacks. You may check with the American Heart Association for additional information.