Heart efficiency
The heart is normally a very resistant to the load body, which is able to continue its work even in extreme situations. For example, the pulse can double, and the cardiac output - grow fourfold without any painful sensations for a person, unless it lasts too long. The most remarkable thing is that most people do not experience any serious heart problems until the end of their life. Heart failure may be the result of many diseases that reduce cardiac output. The main reasons are:
• Cardiac ischemia
This is a very common disease in which the narrowing of the coronary arteries leads to insufficient blood supply to the heart muscle. The consequence may be a violation of cardiac function (especially with physical exertion), which leads to the development of angina pectoris.
• Hypertension
People with high blood pressure increase the hydrodynamic resistance of peripheral vessels. As a consequence, the heart is forced to develop more pressure to maintain adequate circulation. It is able to cope with this task only for a certain period of time, after which the development of heart failure - the result of exhaustion of the myocardium, caused by a constant increased load.
• Heart valve diseases
These include prolapse (failure) of the valve, which results in regurgitation (reverse blood casting) and stenosis (constriction). In both cases, the load on the heart muscle increases. It can be compensated for some time by increasing the muscle mass of the heart, but when the limit of compensatory capacity is reached, then inadequacy begins to develop.
• Heart rhythm disturbances
All diseases that cause disturbances in the rhythm of the heart affect the overall cardiac function. Moreover, like many other painful processes in the body, these diseases are rarely observed in isolation. For example, in patients who have had a heart attack, later, rhythm disturbances are more frequent. Manifestations of heart failure may strongly depend on which of the ventricles is affected.
Right ventricular failure
Stagnation of blood in a large circle of blood circulation causes swelling of the lower extremities, nausea, vomiting, bloating (ascites - accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity), inhibition and loss of strength. There may be signs of liver enlargement and cyanosis (a symptom of a lack of oxygen in the tissues).