Home Health Center Congestive Heart Failure   Congestive Heart Failure - Treatment

Treatment for Congestive Heart Failure

 Treatments for congestive heart failure vary and depend upon the underlying cause. If no underlying cause can be established, then treatment will consist of medications and lifestyle changes.

Lifestyle changes recommended by your physician will only help relieve the symptoms of congestive heart failure and maybe slow the progression of the condition. Quitting smoking is essential as this will only worsen the condition. Dietary changes are also important as is the introduction of a carefully calibrated exercise regimen.

Medication can help control the underlying causes of heart failure and form a critical part of the therapy. Usually different types of medications are required to deal with the various underlying physiological causes.

Angioplasty

Depending on the underlying causes, other procedures like angioplasty or coronary bypass surgery or the installation of a pacemaker may be advised. Angioplasty is recommended in cases where heart failure is caused by coronary heart disease which results in blocked arteries. A long thin catheter is inserted into a blood vessel and threaded into the blocked artery. At the point of blockage, a tiny balloon or an expandable metallic stent is inflated. This displaces the plaque made up of cholesterol deposits and clears the blockage, allowing blood to flow freely.

Pacemaker

A heart that is beating too slowly can benefit from a pacemaker implant. This is an electrode on the tip of a wire that is implanted inside the heart. It can stimulate a heart to beat faster or it can control an irregular heartbeat. An intracardiac defibrillator may also be implanted as part of the pacemaker which can detect and remedy life-threatening arrhythmias. The pacemaker can also synchronize the pumping action of the left and right ventricles (cardiac resynchronization therapy). This improves the effectiveness of the heart as a pump.