Clinical manifestations of heart failure

Written by Wang Li Bing

Intensive Care Medicine Department

Updated on September 27, 2024

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Heart failure is divided into left heart failure, right heart failure, and total heart failure. Left heart failure mainly manifests as exertional dyspnea or nocturnal paroxysmal dyspnea. It is often accompanied by palpitations, orthopnea, coughing, coughing up pink frothy sputum, accompanied by palpitations, fatigue, etc. Right heart failure primarily presents with symptoms of the digestive system, such as abdominal distension, nausea, vomiting, edema, oliguria, etc. Once heart failure occurs, active treatment must be administered. In clinical practice, treatments mainly include cardiotonics, diuretics, vasodilators, and other symptomatic treatments.

Other Voices

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Written by Wei Shi Liang

Intensive Care Unit

53sec

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Causes of Acute Heart Failure

The main causes of acute heart failure include coronary heart disease, valvular disease, hypertension, and cardiomyopathies, such as toxic cardiomyopathy or hypothyroidism-related cardiomyopathy, as well as idiopathic cardiomyopathy. Myocarditis and arrhythmia-related causes can also lead to heart failure, but there are often triggers present clinically. Common triggers include poor treatment compliance, arrhythmias, anemia, infections, myocardial ischemia, excessive fluid intake, poor dietary control, and increased cardiac output, such as during strenuous activity and pregnancy, which can lead to increased cardiac output and cause heart failure. Conditions such as excessive fluid volume, hypertension, hyperthyroidism, and pulmonary embolism can also trigger heart failure.

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Written by Zhang Yue Mei

Cardiology

38sec

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Heart Failure Drug Therapy

Due to some myocardial diseases that cause damage to the myocardium, or other reasons that increase the heart's load, heart failure may occur. Clinical treatment involves strengthening the heart and promoting diuresis, improving blood vessel function, increasing the heart’s contractility, reducing the heart’s resistance, and decreasing the volume of blood returning to the heart. Through these effective drug treatments, heart failure can be corrected. Patients with heart failure should avoid excessive fatigue and maintain a low-salt diet to prevent increasing the burden on the heart.

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Written by Wang Li Bing

Intensive Care Medicine Department

39sec

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Acute heart failure typical symptoms

The typical symptoms of acute heart failure include sudden severe difficulty breathing, increased respiratory rate, and patients generally presenting a forced sitting position, with pale, grayish complexion and cyanotic lips. They often have profuse sweating, restlessness, frequent coughing, and coughing up pink frothy sputum. The condition can be critical, leading to consciousness disturbances due to lack of oxygen. Once acute heart failure occurs, active treatment is essential. The most common clinical approaches include strengthening the heart, diuresis, and vasodilation for symptomatic active management.

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Written by Fan Yan Fu

Cardiology

1min 23sec

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Why do we need to supplement potassium for heart failure?

Potassium ions are very important in the cardiac muscle cells, playing a critical role in maintaining the stability of the electrical activity of these cells. Thus, in conditions like heart failure or other cardiovascular diseases, it is essential to keep potassium levels within a certain range in order to reduce serious cardiac events. When potassium levels fall, cardiac electrical activity can become disordered, potentially leading to a sudden cardiac arrest. This is particularly the case in heart failure where the cardiac muscle cells are in a diseased state, making them more sensitive to low potassium levels. Thus, they are more prone to sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death. Therefore, for cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart failure, there is a high priority on supplementing potassium, generally increasing it to above 4.0 and even around 4.5 to be safe. Additionally, patients with heart failure often have poor diets, leading to lower potassium intake and consumption of potassium-rich foods, necessitating pharmacological potassium supplementation. Heart failure patients frequently use diuretics, which can lead to higher potassium loss, thus requiring additional potassium supplementation. For these reasons, potassium supplementation is particularly emphasized in patients with heart failure.

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Written by Zhang Yue Mei

Cardiology

36sec

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What causes acute heart failure?

Acute heart failure can occur in diseases of the heart itself, as well as in other serious diseases that lead to heart failure. Common cardiac diseases include severe arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy, and myocardial infarction. If these diseases are not well treated, they can cause acute heart failure. Other diseases can be seen in cases such as drug poisoning, severe anemia, severe infection, and during the treatment of other diseases when excessive use of fluids increases the burden on the heart, leading to acute heart failure.