What are the causes of chronic heart failure?

Written by Wang Li Bing
Intensive Care Medicine Department
Updated on September 01, 2024
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Chronic heart failure is also relatively common in clinical settings, mainly referring to patients with existing heart diseases. If a patient with a long history of hypertension experiences lung infection and fatigue, it can trigger an acute episode of chronic heart failure. At this time, the patient may experience symptoms such as difficulty breathing and fatigue. It is crucial to seek prompt medical attention, where common clinical treatments include cardiotonic, diuretic, and vasodilator therapies. For chronic heart failure, treatment should also actively address and remove the underlying causes and treat the primary disease to save the patient's life.

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Written by Zhang Yue Mei
Cardiology
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The basic etiology of chronic heart failure

Chronic heart failure is one of the most common complications of various organic heart diseases, and there are many causes of chronic heart failure. The main reason is due to primary diseases that have not been effectively treated. Long-term myocardial ischemia, hypoxia, excessive fatigue, emotional excitement, overeating, too full, constipation, and other reasons increase the cardiac burden, leading to chronic heart failure. People with organic heart disease must treat the primary disease under the guidance of a doctor. At the same time, pay attention to rest, avoid emotional excitement, eat easily digestible food, maintain a low-salt, low-fat diet, and ensure smooth bowel movements to prevent increasing the cardiac burden and causing heart failure.

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Written by Wang Li Bing
Intensive Care Medicine Department
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Clinical manifestations of chronic heart failure

Chronic heart failure primarily includes left heart failure, right heart failure, and total heart failure. Clinically, left heart failure is the most common. The clinical manifestations of left heart failure primarily involve pulmonary congestion and reduced cardiac output, which can present as varying degrees of dyspnea, such as exertional dyspnea, orthopnea, and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. Patients may experience coughing, expectoration, pink frothy sputum, fatigue, tiredness, dizziness, palpitations, and more. Right heart failure primarily manifests as gastrointestinal and liver congestion, causing abdominal distension, poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, and more. Total heart failure naturally includes the clinical manifestations of both left and right heart failure.

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Written by Liu Ying
Cardiology
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Can people with chronic heart failure smoke?

Patients with chronic heart failure should not smoke, as smoking can enhance the excitability of the sympathetic nervous system. Increased excitability of the sympathetic nervous system releases norepinephrine, elevating norepinephrine levels. This can cause peripheral vasoconstriction, increase the afterload on the heart, and accelerate heart rate. Both of these effects can increase myocardial oxygen consumption. Furthermore, norepinephrine has a direct toxic effect on myocardial cells, promoting myocardial cell apoptosis and participating in the pathological process of ventricular remodeling. Moreover, excitement of the sympathetic nervous system can also enhance myocardial stress, potentially promoting the occurrence of arrhythmias. Therefore, patients with chronic heart failure should not smoke.

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Written by Liu Ying
Cardiology
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Causes of Heart Failure

Heart failure can be divided into acute heart failure and chronic heart failure. There are many causes of acute heart failure, such as acute coronary syndrome, hypertensive emergency, acute massive pulmonary embolism, right ventricular infarction, severe pulmonary hypertension, and so on. Chronic heart failure can also have many causes, for example, coronary artery disease and hypertension have become the main causes of chronic heart failure, rheumatic heart disease, and valvular heart disease can also cause chronic heart failure. Chronic cor pulmonale and high-altitude heart disease also have a certain incidence rate in China, among others.

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Written by Zhang Yue Mei
Cardiology
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"Heart failure"

Heart failure is one of the most common complications of various organic heart diseases. It occurs when the heart's contractile force or diastolic function is impaired, preventing blood from being delivered to vital organs and throughout the body, leading to clinical symptoms caused by venous congestion and arterial ischemia, called heart failure. Diseases that can cause heart failure include coronary heart disease, pulmonary heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, hypertensive heart disease, and viral myocarditis. Patients with heart failure need to use effective medications to treat the diseases causing heart failure while minimizing the burden on the heart. They should adhere to a low-fat and low-salt diet, ensure sufficient rest, maintain regular bowel movements to prevent the acceleration of heart failure. (Specific medications should be administered under the guidance of a physician.)