Treatments for Heart failure
Treatments for Heart failure
The list of treatments mentioned in various sources
for Heart failure
includes the following list.
Always seek professional medical advice about any treatment
or change in treatment plans.
Heart failure: Is the Diagnosis Correct?
The first step in getting correct treatment is
to get a correct diagnosis.
Differential diagnosis list for Heart failure may include:
Hidden causes of Heart failure may be incorrectly diagnosed:
Heart failure: Marketplace Products, Discounts & Offers
Products, offers and promotion categories available for Heart failure:
Curable Types of Heart failure
Possibly curable types of Heart failure may include:
- Nutritional deficiencies related heart failure
- Hypertension related heart failure
- Diabetic cardiomyopathy related heart failure
- Drug induced cardiomyopathy related heart failure
- Congenital heart disease related heart failure
- more curable types...»
Heart failure: Research Doctors & Specialists
Research all specialists including ratings, affiliations, and sanctions.
Drugs and Medications used to treat Heart failure:
Note:You must always seek professional medical advice about any prescription drug, OTC drug, medication, treatment
or change in treatment plans.
Some of the different medications used in the treatment of Heart failure include:
- Eplerenone - mainly used to treat chronic heart failure following acute myocardial infarction
- Inspra - mainly used to treat chronic heart failure following acute myocardial infarction
- Inamrinone
- Uremide
- GenRx Frusemide
- Frusid
- Frusehexal
- Hawthorn
Latest treatments for Heart failure:
The following are some of the latest treatments for Heart failure:
Hospital statistics for Heart failure:
These medical statistics relate to hospitals, hospitalization and Heart failure:
- 205 per 100,000 rate for hospitalizations for heart failure in Canada 1995 Surveillance on-line, 1998 LCDC, Health Canada)
- 0.842% (107,471) of hospital consultant episodes were for heart failure in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 65% of hospital consultant episodes for heart failure required hospital admission in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- 50% of hospital consultant episodes for heart failure were for men in England 2002-03 (Hospital Episode Statistics, Department of Health, England, 2002-03)
- more hospital information...»
Hospitals & Medical Clinics: Heart failure
Research quality ratings and patient incidents/safety measures
for hospitals and medical facilities in specialties related to Heart failure:
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More general information, not necessarily in relation to Heart failure,
on hospital and medical facility performance and surgical care quality:
Medical news summaries about treatments for Heart failure:
The following medical news items
are relevant to treatment of Heart failure:
Discussion of treatments for Heart failure:
NHLBI, Heart Failure: NHLBI (Excerpt)
Heart failure
caused by an excessive workload is curable by treating the primary disease, such
as anemia or thyrotoxicosis. Also curable are forms caused by anatomical
problems, such as a heart valve defect. These defects can be surgically
corrected.
However, for the common forms of heart failure--those due to damaged heart
muscle--no known cure exists. But treatment for these forms may be quite
successful. The treatment seeks to improve patients' quality of life and length
of survival through lifestyle change and drug therapy.
Patients can minimize the effects of heart failure by controlling the risk
factors for heart disease. Obvious steps include quitting smoking, losing weight
if necessary, abstaining from alcohol, and making dietary changes to reduce the
amount of salt and fat consumed. Regular, modest exercise is also helpful for
many patients, though the amount and intensity should be carefully monitored by
a physician.
But, even with lifestyle changes, most heart failure patients must take
medication. Many patients receive two or more drugs.
Several types of drugs have proven useful in the treatment of heart failure:
- Diuretics help reduce the amount of fluid in the body and are useful for
patients with fluid retention and hypertension.
- Digitalis increases the force of the heart's contractions, helping to
improve circulation.
- Results of recent studies have placed more emphasis on the use of drugs
known as angiotensin
converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors . Several large studies have indicated
that ACE
inhibitors improve survival among heart failure patients and may slow, or
perhaps even prevent, the loss of heart pumping activity.
Originally
developed as a treatment for hypertension, ACE inhibitors help heart failure
patients by, among other things, decreasing the pressure inside blood vessels.
As a result, the heart does not have to work as hard to pump blood through the
vessels.
Patients who cannot take ACE inhibitors may get a nitrate and/or a drug
called hydralazine, each of which helps relax tension in blood vessels to
improve blood flow.
Sometimes, heart failure is life-threatening. Usually, this happens when drug
therapy and lifestyle changes fail to control its symptoms. In such cases, a
heart transplant may be the only treatment option. However, candidates for
transplantation often have to wait months or even years before a suitable donor
heart is found. Recent studies indicate that some transplant candidates improve
during this waiting period through drug treatment and other therapy, and can be
removed from the transplant list.
Transplant candidates who do not improve sometimes need mechanical pumps,
which are attached to the heart. Called left ventricular assist devices (LVAD s),
the machines take over part or virtually all of the heart's blood-pumping
activity. However, current LVAD s
are not permanent solutions for heart failure but are considered bridges to
transplantation.
An experimental surgical procedure for severe heart failure is available at a
few U.S. medical centers. The procedure, called cardiomyoplasty ,
involves detaching one end of a muscle in the back, wrapping it around the
heart, and then suturing the muscle to the heart. An implanted electric
stimulator causes the back muscle to contract, pumping blood from the heart.
Common Heart Failure Medications Listed
below are some of the medications prescribed for heart failure. Not all
medications are suitable for all patients, and more than one drug may be
needed.
Also, the list provides the full range of possible side effects for
these drugs. Not all patients will develop these side effects. If you
suspect that you are having a side effect, alert your physician.
- ACE Inhibitors.
These prevent
the production of a chemical that causes blood vessels to narrow. As a
result, blood pressure drops and the heart does not have to work as hard
to pump blood.
- Side effects may include coughing, skin rashes, fluid
retention, excess potassium in the bloodstream, kidney problems, and
an altered or lost sense of taste.
- Digitalis.
Increases the force of the heart's
contractions. It also slows certain fast heart rhythms. As a result, the
heart beats less frequently but more effectively, and more blood is
pumped into the arteries.
- Side effects may include nausea, vomiting, loss of
appetite, diarrhea, confusion, and new heartbeat irregularities.
- Diuretics.
These decrease the body's retention
of salt and so of water. Diuretics are commonly prescribed to reduce
high blood pressure. Diuretics come in many types, with different
periods of effectiveness.
- Side effects may include loss of too much potassium,
weakness, muscle cramps, joint pains, and impotence.
- Hydralazine.
This drug widens blood vessels,
easing blood flow.
- Side effects may include headaches, rapid heartbeat, and
joint pain.
- Nitrates.
These drugs are used mostly for chest
pain, but may also help diminish heart failure symptoms. They relax
smooth muscle and widen blood vessels. They act to lower primarily
systolic blood pressure.
- Side effects may include headaches.
|
(Source: excerpt from
NHLBI, Heart Failure: NHLBI)
NHLBI, Heart Failure: NHLBI (Excerpt)
To improve the chances of surviving with heart failure, patients must take
care of themselves.
Patients must:
- See their physician regularly;
- Closely follow all of their physician's instructions;
- Take any medication according to instructions; and
- Immediately inform their physician of any significant change in their
condition, such as an intensified shortness of breath or swollen feet.
Patients with heart failure also should:
- Control their weight;
- Watch what they eat;
- Not smoke cigarettes or use other tobacco products; and
- Abstain from or strictly limit alcohol consumption.
Even with the
best care, heart failure can worsen, but patients who don't take care of
themselves are almost writing themselves a prescription for poor health. (Source: excerpt from
NHLBI, Heart Failure: NHLBI)
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Book Excerpts: Treatment of Heart failure
Treatments of Heart failure: Online Medical Books
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for more information about the treatments of Heart failure.
Cardiomegaly:
Treatment
(In a Page: Signs and Symptoms)
-
Stabilize airway, breathing, and circulation
-
Treat underlying cause
-
Discontinue offending drugs
-
Administer antiarrhythmics, digoxin, diuretics, and/or afterload and preload reducers as clinically indicated
-
Periodic follow-up is based on severity of condition
-
Transplant may be necessary in end-stage symptomatic heart failure that is refractory to medical treatment
–Implantable ventricular assist devices may be indicated for severe heart failure patients to serve as a temporizing measure until heart transplantation occurs
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: In a Page: Signs and Symptoms, 2004
Paroxysmal Nocturnal Dyspnea:
Treatment
(In a Page: Signs and Symptoms)
-
Attention to airway, breathing, and circulation
-
Administer supplemental O2
-
Many patients feel relief with cold air blowing in face
-
CHF: Mainstay of therapy is to decrease preload (by venodilation) and afterload (by arteriodilation and volume removal) to improve forward blood flow and decrease symptoms; nitrates (sublingual and IV), loop diuretics, IV morphine, ACE inhibitors, and spironolactone; treat refractory respiratory distress with CPAP, BiPAP, or intubation
-
Valvular disease: Blood pressure reduction with an ACE inhibitor or β-blocker is first-line therapy; surgical
intervention (balloon valvuloplasty, valve repair, or valve
replacement) is needed for severe disease
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: In a Page: Signs and Symptoms, 2004
Heart Failure:
Treatment
(In A Page: Pediatric Signs and Symptoms)
- Increased afterload due to left-sided obstructive lesion
–Use prostaglandins to open ductus arteriosus to relieve the obstruction, and/or use the right ventricle for systemic circulatory support
–Inotropic support (dopamine/dobutamine) if very ill
–Surgical intervention depending on specific anatomy
-
Left-to-right shunt lesions
–Diuretics to decrease lung fluid and improve respiratory mechanics
–Inotropic support with dopamine/dobutamine for critically ill, digoxin for chronic use
–Systemic afterload reduction with ACE inhibitors if systemic BP adequate
-
Myocardial disease
–Diuretics and inotropes for afterload reduction
–β-blockers and ACE inhibitors
–Mechanical circulatory support and cardiac
transplantation for advanced heart failure
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: In A Page: Pediatric Signs and Symptoms, 2007
Heart failure:
Treatment (Tx)
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))
Diuresis, digoxin, vasodilators, inotropics, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, oxygen
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition), 2005
Heart failure:
Treatment
(Handbook of Diseases)
The aim of therapy is to improve pump function by reversing the compensatory mechanisms that are producing the symptoms. Heart failure can be controlled by treatment consisting of:
❑ diuresis to reduce total blood volume and circulatory congestion; spironolactone, a potassium-sparing diuretic, and nesiritide, a recombinant form of human BNP, are helpful
❑ vasodilators and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to increase cardiac output by reducing the impedance to ventricular outflow (afterload)
❑ digoxin to strengthen myocardial contractility
❑ beta-adrenergic blockers to improve ejection fraction and reduce morbidity and mortality
❑ dietary restrictions, such as restricted sodium and limiting fluid intake to 2 L/day
❑ biventricular pacemaker to control ventricular dyssynchrony
❑ antiembolism stockings to prevent venostasis and thromboembolus.
UNDER STUDY: An innovative approach to heart failure that remains under investigation is cellular cardiomyoblasty, the transplantation of autologous ex-vivo expanded cells into the myocardium. The transplanted muscle cells promote heart muscle regeneration.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Handbook of Diseases, 2003
Pulse pressure, narrowed:
Patient counseling
(Signs & Symptoms: A 2-in-1 Reference for Nurses)
Teach the patient about his disorder and its treatments. Explain any dietary and fluid restrictions. If fatigue is a problem, recommend rest periods throughout the day.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Signs & Symptoms: A 2-in-1 Reference for Nurses, 2007
Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea:
Nursing considerations
(Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms)
▪ Prepare the patient for diagnostic tests, such as a chest X-ray, echocardiography, exercise electrocardiography, and cardiac blood pool imaging.
▪ If the hospitalized patient experiences paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, assist him to a sitting position or help him walk around the room.
▪ If necessary, provide supplemental oxygen.
▪ Keep the patient calm because anxiety can exacerbate dyspnea.
Patient teaching
▪ Explain signs and symptoms that require immediate medical attention.
▪ Discuss dietary and fluid restrictions the patient requires.
▪ Talk about positions that can ease breathing.
▪ Teach the patient about prescribed medications, their dosage, administration, and adverse effects.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms, 2007
Pulse pressure, narrowed:
Nursing considerations
(Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms)
▪ Monitor the patient closely for changes in the pulse rate or quality and for hypotension or diminished LOC.
▪ Prepare the patient for diagnostic studies, such as echocardiography, to detect valvular heart disease or cardiac tamponade secondary to a pericardial effusion.
Patient teaching
▪ Explain the underlying disorder and its treatments.
▪ Discuss any food and fluid restrictions.
▪ Stress the importance of rest periods to reduce fatigue.
» READ BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE »
Source: Nursing: Interpreting Signs and Symptoms, 2007
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