Heart Failure Types-Topic Overview
Heart failure means that your heart muscle does not pump as much blood as your body needs. Failure doesn't mean that your heart has stopped. It means that your heart is not pumping as well as it should.
There is more than one type of heart failure, so you might hear your doctor call it different names. The types are based on what problem in the heart is causing it to not pump blood as well. More than one problem might be causing your heart failure.
Living With Advanced Heart Failure
There’s no cure for congestive heart failure -- not yet anyway. But if you or a loved one is among the 5.8 million Americans living with heart failure, even if it’s advanced, you should know that simple self-care measures can effectively help curb fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling, and other symptoms.In addition to improving their quality of life, heart failure patients who practice good self-care are less likely to wind up in the hospital.“Heart failure is a progressive disease, but the...
Read the Living With Advanced Heart Failure article > >
People with heart failure can have more than one type. For example, left-sided heart failure can cause right-sided heart failure. In such cases, heart failure doesn't have more than one cause, but rather the heart failure is affecting the heart in more than one way. In other cases, there may be two separate problems, such as mitral regurgitation causing left-sided heart failure but tricuspid regurgitation causing right-sided heart failure.
For most people, heart failure affects the left side of the heart. This is the side that pumps blood to the body. The heart's lower chamber, called the left ventricle, either cannot pump blood as well, or it cannot fill with blood normally.
Right-sided heart failureRight-sided heart failure means that the right side of the heart is not pumping blood to the lungs as well as normal.
High-output heart failureHigh-output heart failure can happen when the body's need for blood is unusually high. The heart may be working well otherwise, but it cannot pump out enough blood to keep up with this extra need. This type happens to a small number of people who have heart failure.
There is more than one type of heart failure, so you might hear your doctor call it different names. The types are based on what problem in the heart is causing it to not pump blood as well. More than one problem might be causing your heart failure.
Recommended Related to Heart Failure
Living With Advanced Heart Failure
There’s no cure for congestive heart failure -- not yet anyway. But if you or a loved one is among the 5.8 million Americans living with heart failure, even if it’s advanced, you should know that simple self-care measures can effectively help curb fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling, and other symptoms.In addition to improving their quality of life, heart failure patients who practice good self-care are less likely to wind up in the hospital.“Heart failure is a progressive disease, but the...
Read the Living With Advanced Heart Failure article > >
People with heart failure can have more than one type. For example, left-sided heart failure can cause right-sided heart failure. In such cases, heart failure doesn't have more than one cause, but rather the heart failure is affecting the heart in more than one way. In other cases, there may be two separate problems, such as mitral regurgitation causing left-sided heart failure but tricuspid regurgitation causing right-sided heart failure.
Left-sided heart failure
For most people, heart failure affects the left side of the heart. This is the side that pumps blood to the body. The heart's lower chamber, called the left ventricle, either cannot pump blood as well, or it cannot fill with blood normally.
- Systolic heart failure happens when your heart pumps less blood than normal to the body. It is called systolic because your ventricle doesn't squeeze forcefully enough during systole, which is the phase of your heartbeat when your heart pumps blood.
- Diastolic heart failure happens when the left ventricle cannot fill properly with blood during the diastolic (filling) phase.
Right-sided heart failure
Right-sided heart failureRight-sided heart failure means that the right side of the heart is not pumping blood to the lungs as well as normal.
High-output heart failure
High-output heart failureHigh-output heart failure can happen when the body's need for blood is unusually high. The heart may be working well otherwise, but it cannot pump out enough blood to keep up with this extra need. This type happens to a small number of people who have heart failure.
In this article
SHARE
