blood tests – to check whether there's anything in your blood that might indicate heart failure or another illness. an electrocardiogram (ECG) – this records the electrical activity of your heart to check for problems. an echocardiogram – a type of ultrasound scan where sound waves are used to examine your heart.
Stage I is considered “pre-heart failure.” High-risk individuals include patients with high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and coronary artery disease. A family history of alcohol abuse, rheumatic fever, cardiotoxic drug therapy, or cardiomyopathy can increase your risk.
Common tests to identify congestive heart failure, its stage and its cause include: Blood tests. Cardiac catheterization. Chest X-ray.
There isn't a cure for heart failure but available treatments can help manage symptoms and improve your quality of life.
How long can you live with congestive heart failure? In general, more than half of all people diagnosed with congestive heart failure will survive for 5 years. About 35% will survive for 10 years.
In general, about half of all people diagnosed with congestive heart failure will survive 5 years. About 30% will survive for 10 years. In patients who receive a heart transplant, about 21% of patients are alive 20 years later.
It is possible to lead a normal life, even if you have Heart Failure. Understanding and taking control of Heart Failure is the key to success. Your doctor and healthcare providers will provide guidelines and a treatment plan. It is your responsibility to follow the treatment plan and manage your Heart Failure.
Tests for heart failure
Tests you may have to diagnose heart failure include: blood tests – to check whether there's anything in your blood that might indicate heart failure or another illness. an electrocardiogram (ECG) – this records the electrical activity of your heart to check for problems.
Symptoms can develop quickly (acute heart failure) or gradually over weeks or months (chronic heart failure).
Summary: Exercise can reverse damage to sedentary, aging hearts and help prevent risk of future heart failure -- if it's enough exercise, and if it's begun in time, according to a new study by cardiologists.
Blood pressure is known to be an independent predictor of outcome in HF, although systolic blood pressure has generally been the focus. We found that lower diastolic blood pressure was the stronger (and only significant) independent prognostic blood pressure measure.
Heart failure usually begins with the lower left heart chamber, called the left ventricle. This is the heart's main pumping chamber. But heart failure also can affect the right side.
Heart failure has no cure. But treatment can help you live a longer, more active life with fewer symptoms. Treatment depends on the type of heart failure you have and how serious it is.
Little robust evidence exists regarding the optimal blood pressure target for patients with heart failure, but a value near 130/80 mmHg seems to be adequate according to the current guidelines.
You may have trouble breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swollen legs, neck veins that stick out, and sounds from fluid built up in your lungs. Your doctor will check for these and other signs of heart failure. A test called an echocardiogram is often the best test to diagnose your heart failure.
Heart failure can be acute, like after a heart attack, or it may develop over time, for example because of permanently high blood pressure or coronary artery disease. Depending on how severe heart failure is, it may go unnoticed, only cause minor symptoms, or really affect your physical fitness.
Heart failure is a lifelong condition in which the heart muscle can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs for blood and oxygen.
A test called an echocardiogram is often the best test to diagnose your heart failure. Your doctor can also use this test to find out why you have heart failure, and then monitor your condition going forward every three to six months.
While most patients with suspected HF do not require invasive testing for diagnosis, the clinical gold standard for diagnosis of HF is identification of an elevated pulmonary capillary wedge pressure at rest or exercise on an invasive hemodynamic exercise test in a patient with symptoms of HF.
Your doctor will use a stethoscope to hear your heartbeat. The closing of your heart's valves makes a "lub dub" noise. The doctor can check your heart and valve health and hear your heart's rate and rhythm by listening to those sounds.
There's no cure for heart failure. Treatment aims to relieve symptoms and slow further damage.
The heart is unable to regenerate heart muscle after a heart attack and lost cardiac muscle is replaced by scar tissue. Scar tissue does not contribute to cardiac contractile force and the remaining viable cardiac muscle is thus subject to a greater hemodynamic burden.
Getting the support you need
It's common for people with heart failure to have good and bad days. “Sometimes it's just harder to do things; the energy isn't there,” says Anne. “On a bad day, I can be very breathless, my legs can swell up and I can't walk much.”