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| Index of Diseases and Conditions: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood throughout the body. Heart failure does not mean that your heart has stopped or is about to stop working. It means that your heart is not able to pump blood the way it should.
The weakening of the heart's pumping ability causes
The leading causes of heart failure are coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Treatment includes treating the underlying cause of your heart failure, medicines, and heart transplantation if other treatments fail.
Heart failure is a serious condition. About 5 million people in the U.S. have heart failure. It contributes to 300,000 deaths each year.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
'''Congestive heart failure''' ('''CHF''') (also called '''congestive cardiac failure''' and '''heart failure''') is the inability of the heart to pump a sufficient amount of blood throughout the body, or requiring elevated filling pressures in order to pump effectively. The term ''heart failure'' is frequently misused, especially when given as cause of death: it is not synonymous with "''cessation of heartbeat''". There are many different ways to categorize heart failure, including the side of the heart involved (left heart failure vs. right heart failure) or whether the abnormality is due to contraction or relaxation of the heart (systolic heart failure vs. diastolic heart failure). Individuals with heart failure are sensitive to small shifts in their intravascular volume status (the amount of fluid in their circulatory system). Increasing the volume in their circulatory system can cause symptoms and signs of decompensated heart failure, while decreasing the volume in the circulatory system can cause hypotension. Sign (medicine) of decompensated heart failure include pulmonary edema (fluid building up in the lungs), peripheral edema (fluid building up in dependent portions of the body). Symptoms of decompensated heart failure include dyspnea on exertion (shortness of breath), fatigue, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (shortness of breath when lying down). The New York Heart Association Functional Classification is a commonly used way to gauge the progression of CHF in a particular patient. This classification is used to determine how much CHF limits their lifestyle, and does not apply to a particular decompensated episode.
Rapdirt.com: Big Pun - The latest news, links, and information on the rapper who died February 7, 2000, of a heart attack and respiratory failure.
Acorn Cardiovascular, Inc. - The firm was incorporated in late 1996 and has aggressively developed the Cardiac Support Device (CSD), an investigational device designed to assist in the treatment of NYHA Class III heart failure.
HomMed - Offering daily at-home health monitoring products for people with congestive heart failure, COPD, and diabetes.
Discover Research - Current trials list may include studies on hypertension, migraine headaches, heart failure, and diabetes. Located in Baltimore, Maryland.
USC: Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinical Trials - Includes a listing of cardiovascular, robotic and heart failure studies.
Biogen Inc. - Established manufacturer of drug for treatment of multiple sclerosis, with research focusing on respiratory diseases and congestive heart failure. Offices throughout Europe, Canada with headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Echocardiography - Discusses associated significant cardiovascular derangements in hypothyroidism. Includes pericardial effusion, heart failure, and ischemic heart disease.
Cardiovascular Manifestations of Hypothyroidism - Discusses how the heart resembles congestive heart failure in patients with severe cases of myxedema.
Thyroid hormone and the cardiovascular system - Changes in serum T(3) levels in patients with chronic congestive heart failure are caused by alterations in thyroid hormone metabolism suggesting that patients may benefit from T(3). From Entrez PubMed.
Titan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. - DITPA, or 3, 5-diiodothyropropionic acid, is a novel analogue of thyroid hormone in clinical development for the treatment of congestive heart failure.