Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), means your heart can't pump enough blood to meet your body's needs. Over time, conditions such as narrowed arteries in your heart (coronary artery disease) or high blood pressure gradually leave your heart too weak or stiff to fill and pump efficiently.
You can't reverse many conditions that lead to heart failure, but heart failure can often be treated with good results. Medications can improve the signs and symptoms of heart failure. Lifestyle changes, such as exercising, reducing the salt in your diet, managing stress, treating depression, and especially losing excess weight, can improve your quality of life.
The best way to prevent heart failure is to control risk factors and conditions that cause heart failure, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or obesity.
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- What is heart failure? American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/print_presenter.jhtml?identifier=337. Accessed Nov. 10, 2009.
- Jessup M, et al. 2009 Focused update: ACCF/AHA guidelines for the diagnosis and management of heart failure in adults. Circulation. 2009;119:1977.
- Riegel B, et al. State of the science: Promoting self-care in persons with heart failure: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2009;120:1141.
- Schocken DD, et al. Prevention of heart failure: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2008;117:2544.
- Gheorghiade M, et al. Acute heart failure syndromes. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2009;53:557.
- Flaherty JD, et al. Acute heart failure syndromes in patients with coronary artery disease: Early assessment and treatment. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2009;53:254.
- Left ventricular assist device. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4599. Accessed Nov. 10, 2009.
- Slaughter MS, et al. Advanced heart failure treated with continuous-flow left ventricular assist device. NEJM. 2009;361:1.
- Pina IL, et al. Exercise and heart failure: A statement from the American Heart Association Committee on Exercise, Rehabilitation, and Prevention. Circulation. 2003;107:1210.
- Cutting down on salt and sodium for people with heart failure. American Heart Association. http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=336. Accessed Nov. 10, 2009.
- Naughton MT, et al. Sleep in heart failure. Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases. 2009;51:339.
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Dec. 23, 2009
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