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Congestive Heart Failure: Causes, Risk Factors, and Treatments

congestive heart failure, heart failure symptoms, what is congestive heart failure

Saint Alphonsus offers the highest level of integrated, multidisciplinary care for patients. Additionally, our team has expertise in the evaluation and treatment of patients who need heart transplant or ventricular assist device therapy.

What is Congestive Heart Failure?

Congestive Heart Failure is a condition where the heart isn't able to pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. This leads to fluid buildup and other symptoms.Congestive heart failure is a long-term problem where the heart isn't working efficiently as a pump, causing a range of symptoms and potentially affecting other organs. There are two main types:

  • Reduced Ejection Fraction
    • The heart can’t pump or squeeze enough blood out to the body, and it causes weak heart chambers to become big over time.
  • Preserved Ejection Fraction
    • The heart can’t fill with enough blood causing the chambers of the heart to stiffen and fill with less blood than usual.

According to the American Heart Association, it is estimated that approximately 5% of the 6.2 million Americans with heart failure may develop advanced disease.

Advanced heart failure is a serious condition that can be difficult to manage. Patients with it often have symptoms that are severe and debilitating, and they may have a shortened life expectancy.

Common Causes

  • Coronary artery disease
  • Heart attack
  • Diabetes
  • High blood pressure
  • Heart rhythm disorders
  • Heart inflammation
  • Valve problems
  • Congenital heart problems
  • Obesity
  • Some cancer treatments

Symptoms

  • Shortness of breath is the most common symptom of advanced heart failure. It can occur with exertion or even at rest.
  • Chest pain: This can be a sign of a worsening heart condition.
  • Fatigue: Advanced heart failure can cause fatigue that is not relieved by rest
  • Feeling light-headed
  • Swelling in the legs and rapid changes in weight: This is caused by fluid buildup in the body
  • Rapid or irregular heartbeat
  • Trouble breathing when lying down

Patient Story

Treatments

Early diagnosis and treatment can help prevent the progression of advanced heart failure and improve your quality of life. It is a serious condition that requires constant care and attention. That is why Saint Alphonsus has a team approach to provide the best care to you. Meet our team.

For most people, some combination of the right medications and devices to help the heart beat properly can help the heart become stronger.

Making lifestyle changes can also help to manage symptoms. These changes include: exercising regularly, reducing salt intake, limiting alcohol, quitting smoking, and losing weight.

In some cases, surgery may be an option. This may include Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), Heart valve surgery, or Left ventricular assist device (LVAD). We collaborate closely with cardiothoracic surgery and structural cardiology. Heart transplant is a last resort treatment for advanced heart failure. This surgery involves replacing the patient's diseased heart with a healthy heart from a deceased donor.

The best treatment option for you will depend on your circumstances. Your doctor will work with you to develop a treatment plan that is right for you.

Percutaneous VAD

Device to Improve Heart Function and Increase Blood Circulation

Implanting a ventricular assist device (VAD), or heart pump, is one way the highly skilled interventional cardiologists and surgeons treat patients with heart failure. A VAD is a mechanical pump that helps support heart function and blood flow. VADs can be implanted surgically or attached to the outside of your body percutaneously (through the skin).

Percutaneous ventricular assist devices (PVAD) are not implanted into the body, but rather are connected to the circulatory system by inserting tubes into the femoral artery or inserted through the axillary artery. A PVAD remains outside your body, as the pump rests on your abdominal wall. It connects to a driver that operates the pump and to a controller that provides feedback when it is time to adjust or repair your system.

PVADs are often used to treat a weak heart in the treatment of patients with acute heart failure and are often used as part of heart recover as a bridge to durable VAD transplant or heart transplant. They can help increase heart function and increase blood circulation until long-term therapy can be implemented to help with advanced disease.

Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

An LVAD is a small pump that is surgically implanted inside your chest to help your weakened heart provide mechanical circulation of blood to your body.

Unlike a heart transplant, an LVAD does not replace your heart, but instead helps your weakened heart do its job. The LVAD will pull blood from the lower chamber of your heart (left ventricle) and push it to the aorta, which carries the blood from your heart to the rest of your body.

The LVAD improves your blood circulation and may relieve symptoms and allow you to resume normal activity.

A cable called the driveline connects the implanted pump to an external system controller; the controller is a small computer that runs the pump. The controller is connected to external batteries that power the pump.

The external parts of the portable device are held in a harness or shirt made specifically for LVAD users. Your doctor may recommend an LVAD if your heart failure has not responded to other treatment options, including medication and surgeries.

The LVAD provides an alternative treatment option for patients in several ways:

  • Bridge-to-transplant — Temporary implantation of the LVAD to extend your life if you are waiting for heart transplantation.
  • Bridge-to-recovery — The LVAD is used to help the heart recover while you undergo treatment. If your heart recovers, the LVAD can be removed. However, if your heart is not able to recover, the LVAD can be used as a permanent treatment.
  • Destination therapy — Permanent implantation of the LVAD to improve heart function if you are diagnosed with end-stage heart failure and are not eligible for heart transplantation The purpose of the LVAD in these cases is to support the function of the heart, slow the progression and symptom development of heart failure, and improve the overall quality of life of someone unable to receive a transplant.

Heart Transplants

A heart transplant, also called cardiac transplant or heart transplantation, is surgery to remove a damaged or diseased heart and replace it with a healthy donor heart. Preparation for a heart transplant is an extensive process and includes a detailed evaluation, a search for a donor heart, the transplant surgery and a recovery period.

Heart transplant surgery may be a life-saving treatment for individuals with end-stage and advanced heart failure. It is an extensive surgery most often used when other medications and surgical procedures do not work to treat your condition.

While you wait for a heart, you may face other health challenges related to your condition. Saint Alphonsus subspecialists provide expertise in a wide range of health conditions, and your transplant team will facilitate a referral to an appropriate specialist if needed.

Clinical Trials

Through ongoing research, our goal is to prolong and improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. One way that we do this is by conducting and distributing the results of cardiovascular research.

For additional information about current Cardiovascular clinical trials click here.