heart failure patient question- please help!

[NStiger88]

We were talking about the symptoms of heart failure and my instructor brought up that edema was one of the main symptoms and asked what it is increased by? I'm going between a few options because of what i have looked up but i still need some help

decreased blood pressue?

increased venous pressure?

or

increased intersitial pressure from ischemia?

any help would be appreciated!

[happilymarried]

Well, people with CHF have fluid on their heart making it pump less efficiently. This causes a back up in the blood returning to the heart. So the client basically has blood hardly moving in his/her extremities (usually the legs). So I would say the increased edema is from increased venous pressure but I'm not sure you can pin it down to only one thing. CHF causes a domino effect in the body.

[polka-dot, RN]

In left-sided heart failure, the heart is unable to receive the full amount of blood coming in from the pulmonary veins which leads to pulmonary edema. The capillary pressure in the lungs becomes elevated, so fluid is basically pushed from circulating blood into the interstitium, then into the alveoli, bronchioles, etc...if untreated the pt can suffocate and die.

In right-sided heart failure, the venous system is overloaded with blood producing congestion in the GI tract, liver, kidneys, legs and sacrum...voila...you have edema. This is due to increased hydrostatic capillary pressure as well...this high pressure overwhelms the opposing pressure of plasma proteins and fluid will shift out of the capillaries into the interstitial spaces...voila...you have peripheral edema.

So, the short answer to your question would be increased capillary pressure.

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

https://www.google.com/health/ref/Heart+failure

lotsa good info here for ya

[rachelgeorgina]

Well, people with CHF have fluid on their heart making it pump less efficiently.

Isn't it more accurate to say that in inefficiency of the failing heart causes the build up of fluid, rather than the fluid suddenly appearing and putting strain on the heart?