CVS Heart Failure Flashcards
Define heart failure
A state in which the heart fails to pump enough blood to meet the needs of the tissues/organs of the body, despite adequate filling pressure
What is the primary cause of HF?
Ischaemic heart disease
How many classes of HF are there?
4
Which class HF do you get symptoms at rest?
IV
What 4 things affect cardiac output?
Preload
Afterload
Contractility
Heart rate
Why does End diastolic filling pressure have to be almost perfect for maximised CO in HF?
Because normally the force developed by muscle fibre depends on the degree to which the fibre is stretched. In gross HF, higher filling pressure actually has a negative effect on CO as the filling pressures are already higher than a normal heart so on the frank starling curve any further stretch will reduce cardiac fibre contraction
Why is the preload increased in heart failure?
It is an early mechanism to help sustain CO - with worsening HF an increase in preload will then have a negative effect on CO (frank starlings curve).
Broadly, what three changes occur in HF in the heart/body?
- Structural changes - muscle mass to increase CO
- Functional changes - increase preload to increase CO
- Neurohumoral changes - to increase CO
What structural changes occur as a result of chronic wall stress leading to HF?
Initially:
1) Hypertrophy of myocytes
2) Death/apoptosis of cells
3) Regeneration
Eventually leads to:
1) Remodelling - wall thinning
2) Myocytolysis and vacuolation of cells (loss of contractile machinery gives appearance of empty cell)
3) Increase in collagen
4) Slippage of myocardial fibre orientation (due to dilation of chamber)
What functional changes occur in the myocyte?
1) Uncoordinated/abnormal contraction
2) SR dysfunction
3) Changes to Ca availability and/or receptor regulation
What is global thinning and when does it occur?
Thinning of the wall of the myocardium of the LV -
After MI there is thinning (due to necrosis) in an infarcted area - the rest of the heart compensates by thinning too - to spread pressure and prevent rupture in the infarcted area.
What happens in concentric vs eccentric vs dilated heart remodelling?
Concentric - new sarcomeres are added in parallel in response to pressure overload - hypertrophy - leads to reduced compliance and reduced ability to fill - diastolic failure
Eccentric hypertrophy - due to volume (and pressure) overload - new sarcomeres are added in parallel - so heart
Dilated heart - many causes e.g. dilated cardiomyopathy, aortic regurg or post hypertrophy e.g. in hypertension as hypertrophy cannot be sustained (increased need for blood to muscle but no increase in blood flow so cells die)
What is the ejection fraction like for systolic vs diastolic HF?
Systolic - Low <50% - thinned
Diastolic - ‘preserved’ - hypertrophied
What are the 6 groups of neurohumoral HF compensatory mechanisms?
1) Sympathetic NS
2) RAAS
3) ANP/BNP
4) ADH
5) Endothelin
6) Others - prostaglandins, NO, kallikrien system, TNF-alpha
What are the early (2) and late (3) sympathetic nervous system mechanisms to compensate for HF?
Early - 1) Baroreceptor reflex to increase
2) sympathetic increase in HR, contractility, and arterial and venous vasoconstriction
Late - 1) Downregulation and uncoupling of beta-adrenoceptors
2) NA - stimulates hypertrophy of myocytes and activates RAAS system
3) Increased SNS and reduced ParaSNS reduces HR variability (which predisposes to arrhythmias)
What two compensatory mechanisms occur in HF and why are these actually deleterious?
SNS and RAAS are activated in response to reduced CO, but in turn these eventually reduce CO and have a negative effect on HF
What do the 3 late SNS mechanisms lead to eventually?
Effect of: RAAS increasing fluid, increased O2 demand by increased HR and contractility, direct effect of SNS
1) Myocardial hypertrophy (due to RAAS vasoconstriction increasing wall stress and RAAS fluid retention increasing wall stress)
2) Decreased contractility (increased O2 demand needed for hypertrophy and also by increased HR and contractility - with no added perfusion leads to ischaemia within the myocardium myocyte death and reduced contractility)
3) Direct cardiotoxicity of SNS - myocyte damage
These three all interlink and affect eachother too.
How and why is RAAS activated in HF (4)? Which receptor does AngII primarily work at?
- Reduced CO leads to reduced renal flow - stimulates renin
- SNS stimulates renin
- Reduced Na at the distal convoluted tubule
- Also endothelin - renal vasoconstrictor - activates RAAS
Attempts to compensate to increase cardiac output
AT1Receptor
What negative effects can RAAS have longterm on HF? Name 4 major organs and how it affects them
- Angiotensin II big role in organ dysfunction (increased wall stress from vasoconstriction, increased hypertrophy of myocytes, atherosclerosis, reduced kidney function
Stroke, HF/MI, renal failure, Hypertension - leads to LVH and myocyte dysfunction