Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a very serious heart condition in which the heart cannot pump sufficient blood to meet the circulatory needs of the body. Even though the condition typically gets worse over time, people are able to live with the disease for many years.
Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure, is a life-threatening condition in which the heart can no longer pump enough blood to the rest of the body.
Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), or heart failure, is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to the body's other organs. This can result from :
- narrowed arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle coronary artery disease
- past heart attack, or myocardial infarction, with scar tissue that interferes with the heart muscle's normal work
- high blood pressure
- heart valve disease due to past rheumatic fever or other causes
- primary disease of the heart muscle itself, called cardiomyopathy.
- heart defects present at birth congenital heart defects.
- infection of the heart valves and/or heart muscle itself endocarditis and/or myocarditis
The "failing" heart keeps working but not as efficiently as it should. People with heart failure can't exert themselves because they become short of breath and tired.
As blood flow out of the heart slows, blood returning to the heart through the veins backs up, causing congestion in the tissues. Often swelling (edema) results. Most often there's swelling in the legs and ankles, but it can happen in other parts of the body, too. Sometimes fluid collects in the lungs and interferes with breathing, causing shortness of breath, especially when a person is lying down.
Heart failure also affects the kidneys' ability to dispose of sodium and water. The retained water increases the edema.
