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Heart
Failure
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart
cannot pump enough blood to meet the metabolic needs
of body.
Many patients develop heart failure from more than
one cause. Many of the symptoms linked to heart
failure are caused by the malfunction of organs
other than the heart, especially the lungs, kidneys,
and liver. Heart failure is closely linked to many
forms of heart disease and is commonly diagnosed
only after the diagnosis of heart disease.
Most kinds of heart disease first affect the left
side of the heart, and clinicians commonly divide
heart failures into left-sided heart failure and
right-sided heart failure. Swelling of hands and
feet occurs with right-sided heart failure and difficulty
in breathing with left-sided heart failure.
Causes
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Current studies indicate that heart failure
in infants and children is usually the result
of inherited heart disease. |
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The common causes of heart failure after 40
years of age are coronary hardening of the
arteries with coagulation of blood inside
the heart, high blood pressure, disease of
the heart valves, lung disease, and general
damage to the heart muscle. |
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Some of the factors that may cause heart failure
in heart-disease patients without symptoms
are sudden strenuous effort, increased work
load, too much salt in the diet, sudden emotional
upset, and the giving of excessive volumes
of fluids by vein. |
Treatment
The treatment for heart failure commonly involves
reducing the workload of the heart, giving certain
drugs, as digitalis, to increase heart-muscle strength,
salt-free diets, diuretics, and surgery. The sudden
onset of fluid in the lungs linked to some cases of
heart failure is a life-threatening condition requiring
immediate treatment. This condition of fluid in the
lungs (acute pulmonary edema) may sometimes be confused
with bronchial asthma, and caution is required in
the giving of appropriate medications.
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