Heart failure
Heart failure is a clinical syndrome associated with acute or chronic cardiac dysfunction and, as a result, insufficient blood supply to organs and tissues. The primary cause is the deterioration of the ability of the heart to fill or empty, caused by damage to the myocardium.
Depending on how rapidly heart failure develops, it is divided into acute and chronic. Acute heart failure can be associated with injuries, toxins, heart disease and without treatment can quickly lead to death.
Chronic heart failure develops for a long time and manifests itself as a complex of characteristic symptoms (dyspnea, fatigue and decreased physical activity, edema, etc.) that are associated with inadequate perfusion of organs and tissues at rest or under exercise and often with retention of fluid in the body.
Causes of occurrence
It arises with overload and fatigue of the heart (due to arterial hypertension, heart defects, etc.), the disturbance of its blood supply (myocardial infarction), myocarditis, toxic effects (for example, with Graves' disease), etc.
Classification by severity
Depending on the results of the physical study, the classes on the Killip scale are defined:
- I (no signs of heart failure),
- II (mildly expressed heart failure, few wheezing),
- III (more pronounced heart failure, more wheezing),
- IV (cardiogenic shock, systolic blood pressure below 90 mm Hg)