08/03/2024
Heart failure is diagnosed by monitoring the symptoms, carrying out specialized tests or laboratory examinations, as well as through clinical examinations and an analysis of the patient’s medical history.
Heart failure is a chronic and deadly disease characterized by the heart’s inability to pump blood adequately for the body’s needs. This is one of the most frequently reported diseases, though it is quite diverse in its manifestations and affects hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. Getting the diagnosis of heart failure right is particularly important when it comes to the kind of intervention that should be done. This blog is to provide patients and interested readers with comprehensive information regarding heart failure diagnosis – from the symptoms and causes to the testing.
Understanding Heart Failure
Apparently, heart failure is not synonymous with the stoppage of the heart, stopping the process of pumping; it is a condition where the heart fails to do as is expected. This can be caused by various primary diseases that affect the heart and cause it to be weakest. These may range from coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and a history of previous myocardial infarction.
Symptoms Of Heart Failure
To be able to diagnose, one needs to understand and identify the signs of Heart Failure. Symptoms can vary but often include:
- Shortness of Breath: This may happen when the person is going about his business, or at any time of the day or night while he or she is even dozing off to sleep.
- Fatigue and Weakness: Cohen’s parenthesis states that experiencing fatigue or weakness, even in light tasks.
- Swelling (Edema): Oedema which is the accumulation of fluid in the legs, ankles, and feet.
- Rapid or Irregular Heartbeat: Feeling that the heart is beating fast or irregular; having palpitations.
- Persistent Cough or Wheezing: Sometimes, it is mixed with a white or pink color that has mucus characteristic of blood.
- Increased Need to Urinate at Night: Depending on the location of edema, it can interfere with sleep and is also a symptom of fluid retention.
- Difficulty Concentrating: Where blood flow gets limited, especially to the brain, then confusion as well as memory complications will occur.
Causes Of Heart Failure
Heart failure can result from various conditions that damage the heart muscle. Here are the causes of Heart Failure listed below:
- Coronary Artery Disease: Coming or closing of the arteries in a constructive manner results in restricted blood supply to the heart.
- High Blood Pressure: It rather inflicts more work on the heart thus leading to hypertrophy of the heart muscle.
- Heart Attack: Results in fibrosis to the cardiac tissue, that is, it permanently damages the heart muscle.
- Diabetes: Raises the probability of hypertension and atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries.
- Cardiomyopathy: Both of these types are primary disorders of the heart muscle that tend to be of cryptogenic or uncertain etiology.
Diagnosis Of Heart Failure
Doctors diagnose heart failure through assessments of their patient's history, physical exams, and tests. Here are the key methods used:
Detailed past medical history and general physical examination
Medical History
The doctor will then request the following; More details about the symptoms; The patient’s medical history; and Details of the patient’s lifestyle. They shall ask whether the patient has other related diseases such as high blood pressure or diabetes.
Physical Examination
Some of the tests the doctor may carry out include; signs of heart failure including edema, heart murmurs, and crackles.
Blood Tests
Blood examinations are indicative of some heart failure and other diseases. The basic type of blood test often measures B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N-terminal pro-b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) that are increased in heart failure.
Chest X-ray
Chest x-ray reveals the size and position of the heart and if there is any fluid build-up in the lungs which is frequently observed in heart failure patients.
Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)
An ECG is a test that records your heart’s electrical activity and can identify problems with the rate and rhythm of your heartbeat, problems with the structure of the heart muscles, and signs of a previous or current heart attack.
Echocardiogram
This ultrasound test shows detailed information on your heart muscles and how they work. It can determine the overall volumes of the right and left heart chambers and examine the function of the valves of the heart and the contractility of the cardiac muscle.
Stress Test
A stress test for exemplary entails undergoing a treadmill test or bike test while your heart is being monitored. If you cannot exercise you may be prescribed a drug that puts your heart in the same condition as exercising. This test determines your heart’s capability to function optimally under conditions of elevated stress.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
An MRI offers an extensive and clear Planar Scan of the heart to diagnose the problem accurately. It may help the doctor determine certain heart disorders that may result in heart failure.
Coronary Angiogram
This test entails the injection of a special dye into the coronary arteries using a catheter. Electrocardiograms are then obtained often followed by X-ray pictures to evaluate the blood flow through the heart and blood vessels. It assists in the identification of obstructions that might result in heart failure.
Cardiac Catheterization
Here, a thin and flexible tube known as the catheter is put in a blood vessel and then threaded to the heart using a thin wire. It can quantify the pressure inside your heart chambers and evaluate left and right ventricular activity as well as the activity of your valves.
Heart Failure Treatment
Heart failure has various treatments that include a change of lifestyle, taking of drugs, and at times surgeries. Lifestyle modifications include the use of low salt, low fat, and low cholesterol diet, exercise, weight control, smoking cessation, and moderate alcohol intake. ACE inhibitors, ARBs, beta-blockers, diuretics, aldosterone antagonists, and inotropes are some of the medications applied to dilate blood vessels, reduce the heart functionality demand, control fluid collection, and increase the wall stress of heart muscles. Some of the surgeries that may be required include a procedure known as coronary artery bypass surgery to help increase blood flow, operations on heart valves to either repair or replace them, and the implantation of devices such as pacemakers and implantable cardioversion-defibrillators. In the worst-case scenario, a heart transplant may be done if the others do not work, the condition is critical.
Conclusion
In diagnosing heart failure, medical history assessment as well as physical examination, are employed together with various tests. Knowledge of the signs and causes of the development of heart failure can be useful in the diagnosis and search for timely medical care. So if you or any of your loved ones have any signs suggestive of heart failure, please seek medical advice. Heart failure is a chronic disease of progressive series that needs early diagnosis and intervention in order to reduce the impact on the patient’s quality of life. You need to know and prevent heart diseases as much as possible for your overall health.