Heart failure Flashcards
What is heart failure?
An inability of the heart to deliver blood (and O2) at a rate proportionate with the requirements of the metabolising tissues, despite normal or increased cardiac filling pressures.
Is heart failure a diagnosis of its own?
No
Its a syndrome -
Can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the hearts ability to function and meet demands of supplying oxygen and nutrients to the metabolising body
Incidence of HF
Common: 2-10 (20) %
Costly: 2% of the NHS expenditure in the UK
Disabling: The worst quality of life.
Treatable - not really curable
25-50% of patients die within 5 years of diagnosis
What is the most common cause of heart failure?
The commonest cause is myocardial dysfunction.
Usually results from IHD
What are other causes of heart failure?
Hypertension,
alcohol excess,
cardiomyopathy,
valvular,
endocardial,
pericardial causes.
What is cardiomyopathy?
disease of heart muscles, where the walls have become thickened, stiff or stretched
What is HFrEF?
HF with reduced ejection fraction
What is HFpEF?
HF with preserved ejection fraction
What are some other phenotypes of HF?
HF due to severe valvular heart disease (HF-VHD)
HF with pulmonary hypertension (HF-PH)
HF due to right ventricular systolic dysfunction (HF- RVSD)
What are the symptoms of HF?
Breathlessness
Tiredness
Cold peripheries
Leg swelling
Increased weight
What are the signs of HF?
Tachycardia
Displaced apex beat
Raised Jugular Venous Pressure
Added heart sounds and murmurs
Hepatomegaly
Peripheral and sacral oedema
Ascites
Classes of HF (NYHA)?
Used for assessment of severity of symptoms
Class I: No limitation (Asymptomatic)
Class II: Slight limitation (mild HF)
Class III: Marked limitation (Symptomatically moderate HF)
Class IV: Inability to carry out any physical activity without discomfort (symptomatically severe HF)
Causes of acute decompensation of chronic heart failure?
Uncorrected increased BP
Obesity
AF & Arrhythmias
Excess alcohol
NSAIDs
What diuretics can we use heart failure?
Thiazides
Loop diuretics
Both in severe oedema
Ivabradine
Blocker of the pacemaker current in the SA node
Slows the sinus node rate
Agent for treating angina
For the patients with HFrEF, what is on offer?
ACEi
BB
MRA - aldosterone receptor agonist
ARNI
SGLT2i
ICD
CRTP/CRTD
Hydralazine and nitrates
Ivabradine
What do the drugs for HFrEF do?
All these agents reduce both patients’ symptoms and hospitalization risks
All these agents reduce the patients’ mortality rate (with some reservation in that BB and Ivabradine do that only in patients with SR)
What do we use for HF with preserved LV ejection fraction?
Diuretics
ACEI (PEP-CHF)
ARB (CHARM-PRSERVED, I-PRESERVE)
Beta Blockers (SENIORS 1/3)
AA (TOPCAT: reduction of HF hospitalisation by small dose spironolactone)
ARNI (PARAGON-HF)
SGLT2i (EMPEROR-HF)
Aortic stenosis + HF
mean mortality is eminent, without surgery. AS and severe LVSD=the boat had been missed.
Mitral regurgitation + HF
When LVEF becomes normal in MR, it is probably too late!
What are the risk factors for HF?
- 65 and older
- African descent
- Men (due to lack of protective effect provided by oestrogen resulting in the early onset of IHD in men
- Obesity
- People who have had an MI
What happens when heart initially begins to fail?
many systems involved that initiate physiological COMPENSATORY CHANGES that try to maintain cardiac output and peripheral perfusion in order to negate the effects of the heart failure
What happens as HF progresses?
Compensatory change mechanisms overwhelmed and become pathophysiological
What does HF do to venous return (preload) ?
Myocardial failure leads to a reduction of the volume of blood ejected with each heart beat, and an increase in the volume of blood remaining after systole