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74-year-old woman is admitted to the hospital with heart failure. She had been growing progressively weaker and had ankle edema, dyspnea on exertion, and three-pillow orthopnea. On admission, she is severely dyspneic and can answer questions only with one-word phrases. She is diaphoretic, with a heart rate of 132 beats/min, and blood pressure 98/70 mm Hg. She is extremely anxious.…
References: Amsterdam EA. Revised American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for the management of heart failure. Prev Cardiol. 2005 Fall;8(4):254, 256.Heart Failure Society Of America. Evaluation and management of patients with acute decompensated heart failure. J Card Fail. 2006 Feb;12(1):e86-e103. Review.…
In lungs (not myocardium) of patient with congestive heart failure, some pulmonary capillaries rupture under pressure and red blood cells inside alveoli are phagocytosed by alveolar macrophages. Excess iron in these macrophages binds to ferritin which degrades into hemosiderin. Alveolar macrophages with hemosiderin are called "heart failure" cells, and can be expelled as rust-colored sputum.…
No such therapies have been discovered for diastolic heart failure; however, angiotensin receptive blocking agents have the potential to decrease morbidity in the patients, but not the mortality. (Chatterjee 574). Although patients with diastolic heart failure have a lower annual mortality rate than patients with systolic heart failure, they have a higher rate than the general population. (Chatterjee 574). They also have hospitalization rates similar to those of patients with systolic heart failure. These observations emphasize diastolic heart failure as an important contributor to morbidity, mortality, and health care costs, and highlight the need for further research and clinical trials examining this condition. (Chatterjee 572). Differentiating between systolic and diastolic dysfunction is essential because their long-term treatments are. The treatments of choice in patients with systolic dysfunction are ACE inhibitors, digoxin, diuretics and beta blockers. In patients with diastolic dysfunction, the cornerstones of treatment depend on the underlying cause. (Chatterjee…
Current treatments are focusing on improving the central cardiopulmonary abnormalities, such as decreased ejection fraction and increased capillary wedge pressure. These are interventions aimed at improving the peripheral changes that occur with congestive heart failure. Exercise is a treatment modality that has been shown to positively help many of these peripheral changes. Exercise also reduces the symptoms of exertion fatigue, improves the quality of life, and increases survival rates.…
Heart failure is an ailment where the heart is not able to pump the required amount of blood to the body. Left-sided heart failure is described as when the heart cannot pump enough oxygenated blood to the body while Right-sided heart failure is when the heart cannot fill with the appropriate amount of blood.1 One or both of these may occur with heart failure. In the United States, 5.8 million people have heart failure and this number is continuing to grow.1 With the number of people with this condition growing, it is important to outline the incidence and etiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, medical diagnosis, medical and pharmacological management, and prognosis of heart failure as a way to inform and decrease…
Congestive heart failure is a very common disease. While many other forms of heart disease have become less common, heart failure has been increasing. Congestive heart failure has become the most common diagnosis in the hospital for patients over 65 years of age. Diastolic heart failure accounts for up to 40% of patients with congestive heart failure and is associated with a better prognosis as compared to patient with systolic dysfunction (Arora, Krummerman, Vijayaraman, Rosengarten, Suryadevara, Lejemtel, and Ferrick, 2005). Congestive heart failure occurs when the flow of…
* What is congestive heart failure and what medications are used to make a person comfortable…
Congestive heart failure is the process in which the heart becomes in-able to maintain circulation for the requirements of the body at an effective rate, As the heart is one of the body’s vital organs, it plays an important role and has some degree of compensating mechanisms to balance the body’s needs with existing disease of the heart. Eventually when the heart is no longer able to compensate heart failure occurs; congestion will then follow, resulting in insufficient supply of blood to the body.…
There are many ways to treat this condition. ACE inhibitors may be prescribed. These drugs are vasodilators, and help to widen blood vessels to reduce the workload on the heart, decrease blood pressure and increase blood flow (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2013). Many people with this disease are also prescribed diuretics, to increase fluid loss from the body and reduce fluid buildup and swelling. However, patients often need mineral supplements in addition to taking these drugs. When drugs are not sufficient enough, surgery may also be required. A coronary bypass is a sort of transplant, where veins from an arm or leg are used to bypass a blocked coronary artery, allowing blood to flow freely through the heart. Beta blockers are drugs that block Beta 1 and 2 receptors on the heart, which constrict blood vessels. By doing this and keeping blood vessels dilated, these drugs reduce blood pressure and heart rate. However, Carvedilol is the only agent labeled by the FDA for use in patients with heart failure (Chavey, 2000).…
Heart failure's definition is obvious from its term. Heart stops working due to lack of oxygen(1). Lack of oxygen in the artery that is coming from lung to the heart. This artery called coronary artery. The lack of oxygen in this artery is due to blocking of this artery. In this case, heart starts to adapt this condition by many ways. First, heart champers enlarge, heart contracting cells get bigger, and heart pumps faster. All these adaptive ways that heart uses just to provide body organs with enough…
Congestive heart hailure, also known as CHF or heart failure, affects the lives of 5 million Americans each year with 550,000 new cases diagnosed yearly. (Emory healthcare, 2013) CHF is a medical condition in which the heart has become weak and cannot pump enough blood to meet the need for oxygen rich blood required by the vital organs of the body, less blood is pumped out of the heart to the organs and tissues in the body and pressure in the heart increases, it does not mean the heart has stopped working. (Murphy, 2013) Once the heart has become weakened by conditions such as hypertension, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attack and heart disease, it leads to heart failure, leaving the patient with a poor quality of life. Patients with congestive heart failure cannot reverse this disease, but they can relieve some of the signs and symptoms of the disease by restricting their diet of fat, cholesterol and salt intake, maintaining a healthy weight, smoke cessation, exercise and stress reduction. (Clinic, 2013)…
Congestive heart failure distresses the heart’s function as a pump to meet the body’s needs, affecting many organs of the body including the liver, lungs, kidneys and the intestines. Untreated, this condition will affect virtually every organ in the body. (MedicineNet, 2012) According to Healthline.com congestive heart failure (CHF) is defined as, “A condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of the body.” (Healthline, 2012) Heart failure is a serious disorder that may get worse with an infection or physical stress. It is often classified as either systolic or diastolic. Systolic heart failure means that your heart muscle cannot pump or eject the blood out of the heart properly. Diastolic heart failure means that your heart’s pumping chamber does not fill up with blood. In both systolic and diastolic heart failure the heart is no longer able to pump enough blood out to the rest of the body. This is especially true when you are active or exercising. (Healthline, 2012)…
Congestive heart failure is a chronic illness that affects nearly 5.7 million Americans (Piamjariyakul, Smith, Werkowitch, & Elyachar, 2012). Nearly 700,000…
With the right understanding of what symptoms to look out for and how to protect your dog or cat, you can hopefully catch the symptoms in time to get medical attention for your pet or companion animal. In many cases, depending on the underlying condition, congestive heart failure can be avoided and its symptoms stopped, even reversed. Here’s what you need to know about this potentially fatal condition:…