CAUSES/ETIOLOGY of congestive heart failure?

[plethoraldork]

i just want to ask what are the causes/etiology of congestive heart failure and and how these causes contribute to having a CHF??

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

Cardiomyopathy can be caused by a variety of mechanisms: ischemic, dilated, idiopathic, hypertrophic, restrictive.

Generally dilated/ischemic cardiomyopathy leads to failure of the left ventricle to eject... fluid backs up into the pulmonary circulation (congestive lung symptoms). If the right ventricle fails, fluid backs up into the hepatic or systemic circulation (ascites, peripheral edema). In addition, because the heart is unable to perfuse the end organs with its weak ejection, you can get secondary failures such as kidneys.

"CHF" is generally an exacerabation of fluid overload into either the pulmonary or systemic circulation, or both.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

there are many, many causes. this is a listing from nurse's 5-minute clinical consult: diseases page 334:

• anemia
  
• arrhythmias
  
• atherosclerosis with myocardial infarction
  
• constrictive pericarditis
  
• emotional stress
  
• hypertension
  
• increased salt or water intake
  
• infections
  
• mitral or aortic insufficiency
  
• mitral stenosis secondary to rheumatic heart disease, constrictive pericarditis or atrial fibrillation
  
• myocarditis
  
• pregnancy
  
• pulmonary embolism
  
• thyrotoxicosis
  
• ventricular and atrial septal defects
  

in addition, listed on page 181-2 of pathophysiology: a 2-in-1 reference for nurses is

• atherosclerotic heart disease
  
• myocardial infarction
  
• rheumatic heart disease
  
• congenital heart disease
  
• cardiomyopathy
  
• valvular diseases
  
• noncardiovascular causes
  
  • increased environmental temperature
    
  • humidity
    
  • severe physical or mental stress
    
  • acute blood loss
    
  • copd
    

you can read all about chf on this website: http://cvphysiology.com/index.html - cardiovascular physiology concepts, click on "heart failure" link at the left side of the page

[semester1kid]

Congestive heart failure (CHF), or heart failure, is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to the body's other organs. This can result from

* narrowed arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle, coronary artery disease

* past heart attack, or myocardial infarction, with scar tissue that interferes with the heart muscle's normal work

* high blood pressure

* heart valve disease due to past rheumatic fever or other causes

* primary disease of the heart muscle itself, called cardiomyopathy.

* heart defects present at birth, congenital heart defects.

* infection of the heart valves and/or heart muscle itself, endocarditis and/or myocarditis

Causes of Congestive Heart Failure

Right side can also be caused by impaired pulmonary function as well, especially if it's related to constricted blood flow. Certain anemias can lead to heart disease and HF. There are definitely many other's as well