Treatment for heart failure--a disease in which the body does not receive enough blood from the heart due to weakness of the heart muscles or an inability of the heart to fill up with enough blood--involves taking medication, lifestyle changes or surgery, and sometimes all three. According to the American Heart Association, successful treatment of heart failure depends on the willingness of the patient and the patient's caregivers to participate in the management of this condition.
Dietary Changes
"The Journal of The American Medical Association" says that a low sodium diet is prescribed in the treatment of heart failure. This is done to reduce fluid retention in the body. When an individual who suffers from heart failure consumes salt or sodium from food, the sodium precipitates fluid retention in the body, which leads to increased blood volume. As a result of this increase, the heart is overworked and heart failure may become worse.
Medication
The various medications used in the treatment of heart failure include diuretics, which remove excess fluid from the body so the heart does not have to pump too much blood and get overworked; beta-blockers and ACE-inhibitors, which reduce blood pressure to ensure that the heart does not have to work hard to pump against high pressures; and inotropic medications, which help the heart to contract and beat more strongly, so that it can pump more blood out to the body.
Pacemakers and Implantable Defibrillators
The beating of the heart is controlled by electrical impulses that originate in the heart. The Mayo Clinic says that irregular heartbeats, also known as arrhythmias, are symptoms of heart failure. To address this symptom, pacemakers or defibrillators are implanted in the body and connected to the heart to make sure that the heart beats in a coordinated fashion. In order to do this efficiently, these devices send out electrical impulses to the heart when they detect abnormal heart rhythms. In addition, the defibrillators try to shock the heart back to life if it stops beating.
Mechanical Support
Heart pumps are mechanical devices that are implanted into the abdomen or chest and attached to the weakened heart to help it contract. The Mayo Clinic suggests that heart pumps can improve the lives of patients with severe heart failure.
Heart Transplant
In a case where medication and lifestyle changes do not improve an individual's heart failure, a heart transplant may be done. It is a surgical procedure that involves replacing the heart in heart failure with a healthy heart from an organ donor
References
- "Journal of The American Medical Association"; Patient Page: Heart Failure
- American Heart Association: Surgery and Other Medical Procedures for Heart Failure
- Mayo Clinic: Heart Failure--Treatments and Drugs
- American Heart Association: Managing Heart Failure Medications
- American Heart Association: Treating and Living With Heart Failure
