Heart Failure: Causes, Symptoms, and Complications

Running head: Heart Failure
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Heart Failure
Name
Institution

Heart Failure 2
Heart Failure
This is a chronic disorder in which the heart becomes incapable of pumping sufficient
blood and oxygen so as to meet the body needs. It is a s a result of damaged, stiffened or
weakened heart which in turn cannot keep up with the normal demands of pumping blood. The
body is highly reliant on the action of the heart to pump and deliver blood rich in oxygen and
nutrients to the body cells, therefore a weak or stiff heart cannot complete this function
efficiently. Although not all factors that leads to heart failure are changeable, the treatments
which are available are capable of improving the condition. This disease is very important
because it can result into kidney and liver damage, and valve problems, hence threatening the life
of an individual. One impact of this disease in the community is that it causes disruption on the
daily lives of individuals thereby making them less productive (Fry et al., 2016).
Figure 1: Heart rate of heart failure

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Adapted from: https://www.medicographia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/54.JPG
Pathophysiology of Heart Failure
Since heart failure can be due to myocardial infarction, hypertension, and amyloidosis,
the main pathophysiology is a decrease in the efficiency of the muscles of the heart which causes
an overload or damage. With time, these overloads lead to the reduced force of contraction
within the ventricles. The over-stretching of the heart muscles reduces the capacity of the heart to
cross-link the myosin and actin filaments. According to Savarese and Lund (2017), heart failure
can result from any auxiliary or practical cardiovascular turmoil which debilitates the capacity of
the ventricle to fill with or eject blood. Heart failure is as a result of effects on the cardiac output.
Kemp and Conte (2012) argue that low stroke volume may lead to the failure of the diastole or
systole while high output may lead to low systemic vascular resistance, peripheral shunting and
hyperthyroidism. The essential functions of the heart are secured by the integration of its
electrical and mechanical functions and therefore changes in the structure of the heart such as
valvular dysfunction may result into an overload of heart pressure or volume. The factors that
affect the cardiac output include the preload which is the volume of blood or amount of fiber
which stretches in the ventricles at the end of the diastole, afterload which is the resistance
against which the ventricle must pump, contractility which is the heart muscle’s ability to
contract and relate to the strength of contraction (Mathews, & Schweighardt, 2017). In order to
uphold normal cardiac output, several compensatory mechanisms play the role of compensatory
enlargement in the form of cardiac hypertrophy and cardiac dilation. The compensatory
mechanisms may restore the cardiac output to near normal, however, if excessive, they may
worsen the heart failure due to vasoconstriction and excessive tachycardia. The Starling’s Law