Progress in diagnosing and treating heart failure includes cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), new drugs to slow the heart, and simple tests to predict readmission.
The CRT technique improves heart-failure symptoms and quality of life, and reduces the risk of sudden death in patients with advanced heart failure.
The FDA recently announced a new drug called ivabradine (Procoralan) to slow the heart rate of patients with heart failure, allowing the heart to pump more forcefully.
The heart takes on a huge responsibility in having to pump blood for us to exist.
Each and every beat of the heart consists of a sequence of events called the cardiac cycle.
"Cardiac" is Greek, meaning "heart".
There is 3 major steps in the sequence: atrial systole, ventricular systole and complete cardiac diastole.
After the blood has completely left the atria, the atrioventricular valves (located between atria and ventricular chambers), close to prevent back flow.
This function is what you would recognize as your heartbeat.
Next, there is a contraction of the ventricles and flow of blood into the circulatory system.
This is known as the ventricular systole.
Once again, valves called "pulmonary" and "aortic semilunar" close to prevent back flow.
After these 2 steps, the heart takes a quick break called complete cardiac diastole.
This allows the refilling of blood and to start the process over.
Now you have some knowledge of how the heart works, let's talk about some problem identification.
Heart failure puts an enormous burden on 5.
1 million patients and their families in the U.
S.
Heart failure also costs our health care system billions of dollars a year, primarily in the costs of frequent hospitalizations.
In a single year, more than 80% of heart-failure patients require hospital care at least once, and nearly half are hospitalized up to four times.
However, new medical treatments and better understanding of heart failure are helping more patients stay healthier longer- and out of the hospital.
What should you know: Heart failure is a systemic illness that affects organs throughout the body, resulting in symptoms that you should watch for:1.
Fatigue, 2.
Insomnia, 3.
Difficulty concentrating, 4.
Shortness of breath, 5.
Generalized weakness, 6.
Bloating, poor appetite, 7.
Increased/decreased urination, 8.
Muscle weakness, and 9.
Swelling.
Certainly not all of these symptoms are present and unfortunately, in a few cases involving women, none of these may appear.
Managing heart failure requires complex medication regimens and lifestyle adjustments.
There is a simple test debuted at ACC 2014 that may enable physicians to identify these at-risk patients in advance and take preventive measures.
These advances are very welcome, as they give patients with mild-to-moderate disease the hop of a longer life and those with advanced disease hope for a better quality of life in the rest of their lives.
A more complete story on these breakthroughs and some details on this ACC 2014 test can be found by going to Duke Medicine.
For more information on similar topics, see below.
The CRT technique improves heart-failure symptoms and quality of life, and reduces the risk of sudden death in patients with advanced heart failure.
The FDA recently announced a new drug called ivabradine (Procoralan) to slow the heart rate of patients with heart failure, allowing the heart to pump more forcefully.
The heart takes on a huge responsibility in having to pump blood for us to exist.
Each and every beat of the heart consists of a sequence of events called the cardiac cycle.
"Cardiac" is Greek, meaning "heart".
There is 3 major steps in the sequence: atrial systole, ventricular systole and complete cardiac diastole.
After the blood has completely left the atria, the atrioventricular valves (located between atria and ventricular chambers), close to prevent back flow.
This function is what you would recognize as your heartbeat.
Next, there is a contraction of the ventricles and flow of blood into the circulatory system.
This is known as the ventricular systole.
Once again, valves called "pulmonary" and "aortic semilunar" close to prevent back flow.
After these 2 steps, the heart takes a quick break called complete cardiac diastole.
This allows the refilling of blood and to start the process over.
Now you have some knowledge of how the heart works, let's talk about some problem identification.
Heart failure puts an enormous burden on 5.
1 million patients and their families in the U.
S.
Heart failure also costs our health care system billions of dollars a year, primarily in the costs of frequent hospitalizations.
In a single year, more than 80% of heart-failure patients require hospital care at least once, and nearly half are hospitalized up to four times.
However, new medical treatments and better understanding of heart failure are helping more patients stay healthier longer- and out of the hospital.
What should you know: Heart failure is a systemic illness that affects organs throughout the body, resulting in symptoms that you should watch for:1.
Fatigue, 2.
Insomnia, 3.
Difficulty concentrating, 4.
Shortness of breath, 5.
Generalized weakness, 6.
Bloating, poor appetite, 7.
Increased/decreased urination, 8.
Muscle weakness, and 9.
Swelling.
Certainly not all of these symptoms are present and unfortunately, in a few cases involving women, none of these may appear.
Managing heart failure requires complex medication regimens and lifestyle adjustments.
There is a simple test debuted at ACC 2014 that may enable physicians to identify these at-risk patients in advance and take preventive measures.
These advances are very welcome, as they give patients with mild-to-moderate disease the hop of a longer life and those with advanced disease hope for a better quality of life in the rest of their lives.
A more complete story on these breakthroughs and some details on this ACC 2014 test can be found by going to Duke Medicine.
For more information on similar topics, see below.