Congestive Heart Failure and Heart Disease
In heart failure, surgery may sometimes prevent further damage to the heart and improve the heart's function. Procedures used include:
Heart failure management is a team effort, and you are the key player on the team. Your heart doctor will prescribe your medications and manage other medical problems. Other team members -- including nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, exercise specialists, and social workers -- will help you achieve success. But it is up to YOU to take your medications, make dietary changes, live a healthy lifestyle, keep your follow-up appointments, and be an active member of the team.
With the right care, heart failure will not stop you from doing the things you enjoy. Your prognosis or outlook for the future will depend on how well your heart muscle is functioning, your symptoms, and how well you respond to and follow your treatment plan.
Everyone with a long-term illness, such as heart failure, should discuss their desires for extended medical care with their doctor and family. An "advance directive" or "living will" is one way to let everyone know your wishes. A living will expresses your desires about the use of medical treatments to prolong your life. This document is prepared while you are fully competent in case you are unable to make these decisions at a later time.
Heart Disease and Congestive Heart Failure
In this article
- What Is Heart Failure?
- What Causes Heart Failure?
- What Are the Symptoms of Heart Failure?
- What Are the Types of Heart Failure?
- How Is Heart Failure Diagnosed?
- Is There a Treatment for Heart Failure?
- Stages of Heart Failure
- How Can I Prevent Heart Failure From Worsening?
- How Can I Prevent Further Heart Damage?
- What Medications Should I Avoid if I Have Heart Failure?
- How Can I Improve My Quality of Life With Heart Failure?
- Can Surgery Be Used to Treat Heart Failure?
- Heart Failure Treatment Is a Team Effort
- What Is the Outlook for People With Heart Failure?
Can Surgery Be Used to Treat Heart Failure?
In heart failure, surgery may sometimes prevent further damage to the heart and improve the heart's function. Procedures used include:
- Coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. The most common surgery for heart failure caused by coronary artery disease is bypass surgery. Although surgery is more risky for people with heart failure, new strategies before, during, and after surgery have reduced the risks and improved outcomes.
- Heart valve surgery. Diseased heart valves can be treated both surgically (traditional heart valve surgery) and non-surgically (balloon valvuloplasty).
- Implantable left ventricular assist device (LVAD). The LVAD is known as the "bridge to transplantation" for patients who haven't responded to other treatments and are hospitalized with severe systolic heart failure. This device helps your heart pump blood throughout your body. It allows you to be mobile, sometimes returning home to await a heart transplant. It may also be used as destination therapy for long-term support in patients who are not eligible for transplant.
- Heart transplant. A heart transplant is considered when heart failure is so severe that it does not respond to all other therapies, but the person's health is otherwise good.
Heart Failure Treatment Is a Team Effort
Heart failure management is a team effort, and you are the key player on the team. Your heart doctor will prescribe your medications and manage other medical problems. Other team members -- including nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, exercise specialists, and social workers -- will help you achieve success. But it is up to YOU to take your medications, make dietary changes, live a healthy lifestyle, keep your follow-up appointments, and be an active member of the team.
What Is the Outlook for People With Heart Failure?
With the right care, heart failure will not stop you from doing the things you enjoy. Your prognosis or outlook for the future will depend on how well your heart muscle is functioning, your symptoms, and how well you respond to and follow your treatment plan.
Everyone with a long-term illness, such as heart failure, should discuss their desires for extended medical care with their doctor and family. An "advance directive" or "living will" is one way to let everyone know your wishes. A living will expresses your desires about the use of medical treatments to prolong your life. This document is prepared while you are fully competent in case you are unable to make these decisions at a later time.