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Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) occurs when the pumping ability of the heart becomes reduced due to damage to the heart muscle tissue. Despite its name, heart failure does not mean that the heart stops working. Instead, it means that the heart has been damaged or weakened and does not pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.
Signs and symptoms of CHF include shortness of breath, frequent cough, swelling in the feet, ankles and abdomen, palpitations or fluttering in your chest, sudden weight gain, increased urination at night and difficulty sleeping unless propped up with pillows.
How is it diagnosed?
Doctors can usually make a diagnosis of congestive heart failure based upon a physical exam and the symptoms alone. During the physical exam, the doctor will check for a weak or rapid pulse rate, enlargement of the heart, swollen neck veins, swelling of the liver, fluid retention, sounds of fluid in the lungs, and abnormal heart sounds.
To confirm the diagnosis, he or she may perform a number of tests, including chest x-rays, blood tests, 12-lead electrocardiograms (EKGs), urinalysis, and exercise stress tests. Tests such as electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, and angiography create images of the heart's activity and are also helpful in the diagnosis.
How is it treated?
There are many effective treatments for heart failure. You may need to monitor your blood pressure, weight and diet, especially your intake of sodium. And your physician may prescribe a combination of drugs to help the heart pump better and regain strength. These may include:
- Diuretics - to help the body eliminate fluid and sodium.
- Vasodilators and ACE Inhibitors - to open up the blood vessels to help blood flow more freely.
- Inotropes or Digoxin - to strengthen the heart's contraction.
- B-Blockers - to reduce the effort that the heart needs to contract.
How does Advocate Christ Medical Center make a difference?
Advocate Christ Medical Center offers one of the most comprehensive congestive heart failure (CHF) programs in the United States. At the forefront of innovative treatment and research, Christ Medical Center often treats patients who were told elsewhere there was no hope.
The goal of the heart failure program is to provide the best in heart failure care, education and prevention, and to help patients reach and maintain a level of optimal health. In fact, we were the first hospital in the country to institute a heart failure screening program. And, because of the personalized care our program provides, only 7.5 percent of our CHF patients are back in the hospital 30 days after treatment, compared to the national average of about 20 percent. Those numbers, along with all the attributes listed above, earned Advocate Christ Medical Center Disease Specific Certification from The Joint Commission (JCAHO).
The program is designed to reinforce and advance your physician's prescribed treatment plan and provide an opportunity to get involved in the latest treatments and advances for patients with heart failure. Working with your referring physician, a multidisciplinary team will develop an individualized plan for you that can offer the following options:
- Clinic follow-up and telephone monitoring
- Customized education about heart failure, medications and dietary restrictions
- Monitored ACE inhibitor and beta blocker initiation/titration
- Anticoagulation monitoring
- Acute therapies for decompensated patients including IV diuretics
- Opportunity to join monthly "Healthy Hearts" Group
- Participation in new HF investigational therapies
- Home health care by trained nurses in heart failure
- Access to cardiologists who specialize in heart failure and heart surgeons trained in the latest advanced surgical techniques and heart transplantation
Advocate Christ Medical Center has long been leading the way in the treatment of heart failure. Christ Medical Center has a heart failure clinic complete with the latest technologies and clinical experts needed to keep our patients in the best possible care. We have also led in the research and development of devices to overcome heart failure including development and implantation of ventricular assist devices, and cutting-edge clinical trials related to heart failure patients.
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