heart failure
Diagnosis: Heart Failure
Defined: “An abnormal clinical condition involving impaired cardiac pumping that results in pathophysiologic changes in vasoconstriction and fluid retention” (Lewis, Heitkemper, Dirksen, O’Brien, Bucher, 2007, p. 821).
Risk factors: Increasing age and coronary artery disease are the two main risk factors for heart failure. Heart failure may also develop by other contributing risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and hypertension (Lewis, et al, 2007, p. 821). Other risk factors may include the physical structure of the heart. For example, a patient may have endured damage to the heart due to a myocardial infarction, or a heart attack.
Pathophysiology: The heart is a vital organ in the human body. It functions to pump deoxygenated blood to the lungs and oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. Oxygenated blood is crucial to the functioning of the organs and perfusion of tissues, which in turn is crucial to the functioning of the body as a whole. In Lewis, et al, it traces the blood flow of the heart:
The right atrium receives venous blood from the inferior and superior venae cavae and the coronary sinus. The blood then passes through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. With each contraction, the right ventricle pumps blood through the pulmonic valve into the pulmonary artery and to the lungs. Blood flows from the lungs to the left atium by way of the pulmonary veins. It then passes through the mitral valve and into the left ventricle. As the heart contracts, blood is ejected through the aortic valve into the aorta and thus enters the high-pressure systemic circulation. (p. 740)
As the blood flow is ejected into the systemic circulation (afterload), it is ejected into the arterial side of circulation from the left ventricle. The blood then returns, via the venous side of circulation, to the right atrium (preload). This blood flows through the
Defined: “An abnormal clinical condition involving impaired cardiac pumping that results in pathophysiologic changes in vasoconstriction and fluid retention” (Lewis, Heitkemper, Dirksen, O’Brien, Bucher, 2007, p. 821).
Risk factors: Increasing age and coronary artery disease are the two main risk factors for heart failure. Heart failure may also develop by other contributing risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and hypertension (Lewis, et al, 2007, p. 821). Other risk factors may include the physical structure of the heart. For example, a patient may have endured damage to the heart due to a myocardial infarction, or a heart attack.
Pathophysiology: The heart is a vital organ in the human body. It functions to pump deoxygenated blood to the lungs and oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. Oxygenated blood is crucial to the functioning of the organs and perfusion of tissues, which in turn is crucial to the functioning of the body as a whole. In Lewis, et al, it traces the blood flow of the heart:
The right atrium receives venous blood from the inferior and superior venae cavae and the coronary sinus. The blood then passes through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. With each contraction, the right ventricle pumps blood through the pulmonic valve into the pulmonary artery and to the lungs. Blood flows from the lungs to the left atium by way of the pulmonary veins. It then passes through the mitral valve and into the left ventricle. As the heart contracts, blood is ejected through the aortic valve into the aorta and thus enters the high-pressure systemic circulation. (p. 740)
As the blood flow is ejected into the systemic circulation (afterload), it is ejected into the arterial side of circulation from the left ventricle. The blood then returns, via the venous side of circulation, to the right atrium (preload). This blood flows through the