Heart is indeed a vital organ in humans. It is magnificent how the heart can work throughout a human life without any stop. The heart keeps pumping blood throughout the long blood vessels about 100 000 kilometres in length. Since the heart does work for a very long time, it is important to take care of heart health so that one can enjoy their life in a healthy manner. However, not everyone are lucky to have a healthy heart and end up being diagnosed with heart diseases.
Heart failure is a condition of the impaired heart or heart structures that makes the heart unable to pump blood as demanded by the body. It is estimated that there are 63.4 million cases of heart failure in the world. Heart failure is so much more than just a heart that is unable to work properly. It is core for a person’s disability and even possibly resulted in death. The risk for heart failure in male doubles with each 10 year-age increase after the age of 65 whereas in women it is tripled.
Risk factors are something that increases the chance for developing a disease. This means that the risk for a person to have heart failure increases when a person has one or more risk factors. Risk factors for heart failure include older age, family history of heart failure, unhealthy lifestyle habits such as bad eating habits, smoking, heavy alcohol use, sedentary lifestyle of not engaging in physical activities or drug abuse and other forms of heart diseases, lung diseases or infections.
Heart failure is commonly caused by coronary artery disease (CAD). CAD is a disease caused by the build-up plaque deposited in the wall of the arteries. The plaque is made up mainly of fats. This build-up causes the wall of the arteries to become narrowed and ultimately affect the blood supply to the heart. Other causes of heart failure include cardiomyopathy, inflammation of the heart muscle such as endocarditis, congenital heart defects, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) and heart valve diseases. Conditions that cause the heart to work harder than usual can also lead to heart failure when it is treated. This includes high blood pressure, kidney disease, diabetes, obesity and bad lifestyle such as alcohol abuse and emotional distress.
There are two types of heart failure. The first one is known as systolic heart failure which occurs as the heart muscle is unable to contract with enough force to pump blood in the whole blood circulation system. The second one is known as diastolic heart failure which occurs when the heart contracts normally but the ventricles of the heart are not properly relaxed or have become stiff. This led to less amount of blood being able to enter the heart during the normal blood filling phase in between heartbeats. To determine if heart failure is systolic or diastolic dysfunction, doctors typically run an echocardiogram test to fully evaluate the heart pumping function.
When a person has symptoms of heart failure, he or she should definitely seek medical advice immediately. Heart failure symptoms range from mild to severe. The symptoms may be constant or come and go. Symptoms depend on the side of the affected heart. Common symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue even after taking rest, swelling of the lower legs or abdomen, temporary rapid weight gain, difficulty to sleep when lying flat, swelling in the veins of the neck, persistent coughing and nausea. Some people may urinate more than usual and experience chest pain if it is caused by heart attack. Symptoms may also be from kidney or liver damages and malnutrition.
To diagnose heart failure, initially a doctor will check for symptoms of heart failure by asking questions and investigating medical history. This will be followed by physical examination before further tests are done. Typically, healthcare professionals will run an electrocardiogram (ECG) test and blood test. After that, an echocardiogram, a type of ultrasound, is usually done to confirm a heart failure. Echocardiogram is the most important test used to diagnose heart failure as it can give details on how severe the heart failure is and provide information on what specific medical management to be given.
There is no cure for HF but treatments available do help to alleviate symptoms and provide better chances of living. Common medications given in patients with heart failure are antihypertensive drugs such as diuretics, beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers, antiarrhythmic agents such as digoxin and antidiabetic medications. In severe cases, heart surgery may be needed such as placing a pacemaker or mechanical heart pump. Heart transplant may be recommended as the last resort. Healthcare providers may suggest cardiac rehabilitation programs especially those who survived from heart attack or went for heart procedure before. This program helps to improve functional heart capacity to perform daily activities, to help improve factors associated with heart diseases and to provide knowledge so that patients know how to manage their condition such as managing medication and what to do when symptoms get worse.
