Case Study Analysis: Congestive Heart Failure

Running head: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT’
Name of the study
Name of the university
Author note

1CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Answer 1
Outline of the disease
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is an acute and progressive heart condition which occurs
due to the fluid buildup around the heart muscles, making them contract ineffectively and
decrease their ability to pump blood (Pose et al., 2017). The heart anatomy is inclusive of two
atria and two ventricles, in which ventricular pump helps to provide oxygenated blood to the
organs and tissues and the atria receives all the deoxygenated blood. When the pumping ability
of the ventricle decreases, bodily organs are unable to receive enough blood (Maisel et al., 2016).
Due to this, several organs such as liver, abdomen, lungs and lower body organs starts
accumulating fluids, originating congestive heart condition (Vedel & Khanassov, 2015). In the
provided case study, it was seen that Mrs. Sharon McKenzie (77) suffered from myocardial
infarction at her 65 years of age and her current symptoms include shortness of breath, cold feet,
swollen ankle, dizziness and elevated heart rate, hence all the symptoms indicated towards the
congestive heart failure.
Causes, incidence and risk factors
While discussing incidence, it should be mentioned that as per the Australian bureau of
statistics, more than 300,000 people are affected with congestive heart failure, which is 4% of the
total Australian population. Majority of these people are above the age of 45 and the number of
patients diagnosed with this disorder are increasing by 30,000 every year, making it one of the
crucial health concern for Australia (Sahle et al., 2016).
The most common cause of CHF are damaged heart muscles due to which the heart
valves are unable to work properly and loses its ability to pump adequate blood to the bodily

2CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
organs. Besides this, viral infections, which is known as cardiomyopathy, aging and excessive
alcohol consumption could also increase the severity of this disease. In the case study, it is seen
that Mrs. Sharon McKenzie suffered from an severe myocardial infarction 12 years ago and
hence, as per Ponikowski et al. (2016), patients suffered from myocardial infarction in their past
could develop the risk of CHF. Besides these, due to build up of fatty deposits or plaque in the
walls of heart, congestive heart failure could be observed in older adults.
The risk factors associated to the coronary heart failure are previous episodes of
myocardial infarction, increased blood pressure due to hypertension condition; rheumatic fever
as well as pulmonary embolism could lead to congestive heart failure (Maisel et al., 2016).
Besides these, due to viral or bacterial infection, anemic condition, increase in the salt
consumption and as well as spending time in the humid or heat condition could lead to onset of
this condition (EUGenMed et al., 2015). Excessive cardiac workout and over exercise is another
important risk factor associated with CHF as in the case study it was seen that Mrs. Sharon
McKenzie used to walk with her husband in spite of her history of myocardial infarction
(Ponikowski et al., 2016).
Answer 2
Signs and symptoms Associated pathophysiology
Swelling of ankles and cold feet Due to external or internal stressors involved
in the congestive heart failure, the lower chamber of
heart or ventricles loses their ability to pump adequate
amount of blood in the organs and tissues of body
(EUGenMed et al., 2015). This further causes the heart
to pump blood under pressure, due to which the bodily
tissues starts accumulating fluid around them so that
they could be provided with nutrients for their growth
and development. Majority of the smooth muscle