Heart failure is a type of heart disease that causes the heart to stop pumping blood efficiently. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 6 million adults in the United States have heart failure, also called congestive heart failure.
Most people with the disease have chronic heart failure, which occurs gradually over time, but heart failure can also occur sharply and swiftly, causing a more rapid loss of pumping function.
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare's experienced cardiologists provide expert care and support to treat heart failure.
Take a Heart Health Risk Assessment to learn if you should see a Methodist Le Bonheur cardiologist.
Because heart failure typically develops over time, treatment plans vary for every patient and evolve as the disease worsens. Heart failure specialists at Methodist Healthcare are uniquely trained to offer care as the disease progresses.
Both Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital and Methodist University Hospital are accredited by the American College of Cardiology in Heart Failure — the only accredited facilities in Tennessee and Arkansas and among only a handful in Mississippi. This designation identifies that these facilities offer diagnosis and treatment for heart failure that aligns with best practices for care.
We’re also the first facility in Tennessee to earn Heart Failure Accreditation with an Outpatient Services designation. What does this mean for you? It means we provide comprehensive care and management for heart failure both inside our hospitals and through outpatient care, ensuring you have the support you need at every step of your journey.
There are multiple types of heart failure, differing in how they affect the heart:
A person can have more than one type of heart failure, as is the case in someone who has left-sided heart failure that causes right-sided heart failure.
The symptoms of the disease vary depending on the type and stage of heart failure. Someone with mild heart failure may not have any noticeable symptoms, but as the disease progresses, it can cause multiple symptoms throughout the body.
Shortness of breath after regular activities is often the first noticeable symptom of heart failure affecting either side of the heart. Symptoms of left-sided heart failure include:
Symptoms of right-sided heart failure include:
In the beginning stages of heart failure, the heart tries to compensate for its decreased abilities by developing more heart muscle, enlarging and pumping faster. Other parts of the body also try to help: blood vessels narrow to sustain blood pressure, while the kidneys retain salt and water to increase blood volume.
Eventually, though, these mechanisms fail and cause a breakdown of functions in other body parts, including symptoms affecting the kidneys, lungs and liver.
Heart failure risk factors include medical conditions and modifiable behaviors and habits. Medical conditions that increase the risk of heart failure include:
Lifestyle-related risk factors include:
Other risk factors for heart failure include being an older adult and being Black. Black people are more likely to develop heart failure, more likely to develop it at a younger age and more likely to experience severe symptoms.
While you can’t control some risk factors for heart failure, practicing a heart-healthy lifestyle can help you protect your heart. Healthy habits include:
If you have medical conditions that increase your risk of heart failure, work with your medical providers to effectively manage those conditions through medication or other therapies.
If you’re experiencing symptoms of heart failure, it's important to seek medical attention promptly. A cardiologist will use several tools to diagnose you, including a physical exam, blood tests and certain imaging scans. Cardiac catheterization, electrocardiograms or stress tests are also sometimes recommended as part of the diagnostic process.
Additional testing, such as an echocardiogram, will determine your heart’s ejection fraction, which is the percent of blood in the left ventricle pumped out with each heartbeat. This measurement is used to diagnose your heart failure type and determine how to treat it best.
There’s currently no curative treatment for heart failure, but there are many treatment options available to help slow the progress of the disease and alleviate its symptoms.
If you’re diagnosed with the condition, your cardiology team will determine the best treatment plan to meet your needs, which will change over time. Treatment may include:
When these basic treatment options aren’t enough to alleviate symptoms, implantable devices or surgical procedures may be recommended for those with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. These treatment options include:
In severe cases of heart failure where other treatment options aren’t effective, a heart transplant may be needed.
