heart failure Flashcards
what is the definition of heart failure?
- a state that developed when the heart fails to maintain an adequate cardiac output to meet the demands of the body
- results from any structural or functional abnormality that impairs the ability of the ventricle to eject blood or fill with blood
at rest what is the normal value of cardiac output?
70mls/kg/min
what is the equation for cardiac output?
heart rate x stroke volume
what does an increased heart rate generally lead to?
increased cardiac output
what generally happens to the heart during systole and diastole?
- heart contracts in systole
- heart relaxes in diastole
- ventricles fill in diastole
what does an excessively high heart rate result in?
a decrease in the amount of time allowed for the ventricles to fill in diastole which causes SV and therefore CO to fall
what is contractility?
the intrinsic ability of the myocardium to contract
what is preload?
the volume of blood stretching of cardiomyocytes at the end of diastole prior to the next contraction
what is afterload?
the resistance/end load against which the ventricle contracts to eject blood
what affects preload?
the venous blood pressure and the rate of venous return to the heart which in turn is affected by venous tone and volume of circulating blood
what increases and decreases preload?
- increases with increasing blood volume and vasoconstriction
- decreases with blood volume loss and vasodilation
what does the Frank-Starling law do?
describes the relationship between preload and cardiac output
what does the Frank-Starling law state?
an increase in volume of blood filling the heart stretches and the heart muscle fibres causing greater contractile forces, which, in turn increases stroke volume
what is an issue with the Frank-Starling law?
it is only true up to a certain point as at some stage the fibres become overstretched and the force of contraction is reduced
what increases and decreases afterload?
- increases with hypertension and vasoconstriction
- decreases with vasodilation
what happens after afterload increases?
cardiac output decreases
what are the 2 types of low output heart failure?
- systolic heart failure
- diastolic heart failure
what is high output heart failure?
- occurs in the context of other medical conditions which increase demand on cardiac output, causing a clinical picture of Hf
- the heart itself is functioning normally but cannot keep up with the unusually high demand for blood to one of more organs in the body
what are the causes of high output heart failure?
- thyrotoxicosis
- profound anaemia
- pregnancy
- paget’s disease
- acromegaly
- sepsin
what is systolic heart failure?
progressive deterioration myocardial contractile function
what causes systolic heart failure?
- ischaemic injury
- volume overload
- pressure overload
what is diastolic heart failure?
inability of the heart chamber to relax, expand and fill sufficiently during diastole to accommodate an adequate blood volume
what causes diastolic heart failure?
- significant left ventricular hypertrophy
- infiltrative disorders
- constrictive pericarditis
- restrictive cardiomyopathy
what are the general causes of heart failure?
- coronary heart disease
- hypertensive heart disease
- valvular heart disease
- myocardial disease/cardiomyopathies
- congenital heart disease
what are cardiomyopathies?
diffuse disease of the heart muscle leading to functional impairment
what are the 3 different types of cardiomyopathies?
- dilated cardiomyopathy
- hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (hereditary)
- restrictive cardiomyopathy (rare)
what causes dilated cardiomyopathy?
- ETOH
- pregnancy
- systemic disease
- muscular dystrophies
- drug toxicity
what are the 3 compensatory mechanisms that kick in to maintain arterial pressure and perfusion of vital organs?
- The Frank-Starling mechanism
- myocardial structural change
- activation of neurohormonal system