Heart Failure

heart failure

Inability of one or both sides of the heart to pump enough blood for the body. Causes include pulmonary heart disease, hypertension, and coronary atherosclerosis. A person with left-sided heart failure experiences shortness of breath after exertion, difficulty in breathing while lying down and night breathlessness, and abnormally high pressure in the pulmonary veins. A person with right-sided failure experiences abnormally high pressure in the systemic veins, liver enlargement, and accumulation of fluid in the legs. A person with failure of both ventricles has an enlarged heart and a three-beat heartbeat. Treatment includes bed rest, medications such as digitalis, control of excess salt and water retention, and elimination of the underlying cause. See also congestive heart failure.

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heart failure

1. a condition in which the heart is unable to pump an adequate amount of blood to the tissues, usually resulting in breathlessness, swollen ankles, etc.

2. sudden and permanent cessation of the heartbeat, resulting in death

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heart failure [′härt ‚fāl·yər]

(medicine)

cardiac failure

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Heart Failure 

(cardiac insufficiency), a combination of disorders caused primarily by a reduction in cardiac contractility. Heart failure may occur if the heart is overstrained as a result of arterial hypertension or heart disease or if the blood supply to the heart is interrupted (myocardial infarction). Toxic influences, such as those produced during Graves’ disease, and myocarditis may also cause heart failure.

Heart failure is accompanied by congestion, because the weakened cardiac muscle cannot handle circulation. Left ventricular heart failure results in pulmonary congestion accompanied by dyspnea, cyanosis, and hemoptysis, whereas right ventricular heart failure results in passive congestion of systemic circulation marked by the development of edemas and the enlargement of the liver. Heart failure results in hypoxia of the organs and tissues, acidosis, and other metabolic disorders. Acute heart failure usually occurs in the left ventricle and is manifested by an attack of cardiac asthma.

Heart failure is treated with cardiac glycosides, diuretics, and antiarrhythmics. Surgery, for example, the implantation of a pacemaker, may be performed in certain cases.