"Heart failure"

Written by Zhang Yue Mei
Cardiology
Updated on September 05, 2024
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Heart failure is one of the most common complications of various organic heart diseases. It occurs when the heart's contractile force or diastolic function is impaired, preventing blood from being delivered to vital organs and throughout the body, leading to clinical symptoms caused by venous congestion and arterial ischemia, called heart failure. Diseases that can cause heart failure include coronary heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, and viral myocarditis. Patients with heart failure need to use effective medications to treat the diseases causing heart failure while minimizing the burden on the heart. They should adhere to a low-fat and low-salt diet, ensure sufficient rest, maintain regular bowel movements to prevent the acceleration of heart failure. (Specific medications should be administered under the guidance of a physician.)

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Written by Wang Li Bing
Intensive Care Medicine Department
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How is heart failure treated?

Heart failure is very common in clinical settings. The main treatments include strengthening the heart, diuresis, and vasodilation for symptomatic treatment. A mask or high-flow oxygen can be used if the patient's heart failure symptoms are difficult to correct, or if cardiogenic shock occurs. Aortic balloon counterpulsation and tracheal intubation can be adopted, with ventilator support for ventilation, and blood dialysis and other symptomatic supportive treatments can be used. Another point is to actively control or eliminate the causes of heart failure, etc.

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Written by Wang Li Bing
Intensive Care Medicine Department
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Clinical manifestations of chronic heart failure

Chronic heart failure primarily includes left heart failure, right heart failure, and total heart failure. Clinically, left heart failure is the most common. The clinical manifestations of left heart failure primarily involve pulmonary congestion and reduced cardiac output, which can present as varying degrees of dyspnea, such as exertional dyspnea, orthopnea, and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. Patients may experience coughing, expectoration, pink frothy sputum, fatigue, tiredness, dizziness, palpitations, and more. Right heart failure primarily manifests as gastrointestinal and liver congestion, causing abdominal distension, poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, and more. Total heart failure naturally includes the clinical manifestations of both left and right heart failure.

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Written by Wang Li Bing
Intensive Care Medicine Department
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What medicine is used for chronic heart failure?

Chronic heart failure is also relatively common in clinical practice. The treatment of heart failure mainly includes preventing and delaying the onset of heart failure, alleviating the symptoms of clinical heart failure patients, improving the long-term prognosis of patients, and reducing mortality. These are the treatment principles for heart failure. After the occurrence of heart failure, its treatment mainly includes the treatment of the basic etiology, as well as the elimination of various precipitating factors, such as infections, etc. The pharmacological treatment mainly includes several aspects: first, the use of diuretics; second, the use of renin, angiotensin, and aldosterone system inhibitors; third, the use of receptor blockers; and fourth, the correct use of positive inotropic drugs, etc. Heart failure can alleviate the clinical symptoms of patients through pharmacological treatments.

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Written by Zhang Yue Mei
Cardiology
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Treatment of Chronic Heart Failure

Chronic heart failure is a common and frequent disease in clinical practice, often caused by severe myocardial damage, which leads to insufficient myocardial contraction and results in inadequate peripheral blood supply. The primary principles of treatment are to reduce the heart's burden, enhance its contractile strength, decrease the heart's workload, and reduce the returning blood volume to alleviate the heart's burden. Treatment involves using vasodilators to decrease cardiac resistance, positive inotropic drugs to strengthen cardiac contraction, and diuretics and a low-salt diet to reduce cardiac volume and returning blood volume. By employing these methods, the symptoms of chronic heart failure can be improved.

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Written by Liu Ying
Cardiology
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Can people with chronic heart failure smoke?

Patients with chronic heart failure should not smoke, as smoking can enhance the excitability of the sympathetic nervous system. Increased excitability of the sympathetic nervous system releases norepinephrine, elevating norepinephrine levels. This can cause peripheral vasoconstriction, increase the afterload on the heart, and accelerate heart rate. Both of these effects can increase myocardial oxygen consumption. Furthermore, norepinephrine has a direct toxic effect on myocardial cells, promoting myocardial cell apoptosis and participating in the pathological process of ventricular remodeling. Moreover, excitement of the sympathetic nervous system can also enhance myocardial stress, potentially promoting the occurrence of arrhythmias. Therefore, patients with chronic heart failure should not smoke.