CHF ( Congestive Heart Failure ) can stem from any disease that causes impairment in the heart's ability to contract and pump blood. The impaired pumping power may follow a heart attack in which the heart muscle was damaged, or the muscles may become thick or inflexible from hypertension, diabetes, or improperly functioning valves. When the heart is constantly overworked, it first becomes larger and thicker as will any muscle in the body that you consistently exercise and push hard and it begins to beat more frequently. These changes eventually compromise the heart's efficiency, however, and over time the heart tires out. Back pressure in the circulatory system may have damaging effects on other organs, such as the kidneys, and fluid may collect in the lower legs, causing swelling, or in the lungs, causing shortness of breath.
Causes
- Various cardiac diseases cause CHF and pulmonary edema.
- The most common cause of heart failure is coronary artery disease, which is secondary to loss of left ventricular muscle, ongoing ischemia, or decreased diastolic ventricular compliance.
- Other disease processes include hypertension, valvular heart disease, congenital heart disease, other cardiomyopathies, myocarditis, and infectious endocarditis.
- CHF is often precipitated by cardiac ischemia or dysrhythmias, cardiac or extracardiac infection, pulmonary embolus, physical or environmental stresses, changes or noncompliance with medical therapy, dietary indiscretion, or iatrogenic volume overload.
- One also must consider systemic processes such as pregnancy and hyperthyroidism as precipitants of CHF.
