Heart Failure

Overview

Heart failure is a chronic condition in which the heart muscle is no longer able to pump enough blood through the heart to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. When the heart can’t pump as it should, blood and fluids back up in the body, which may cause swelling in the belly, legs, hands, and feet and may cause weight gain. A person with heart failure may feel tired, dizzy, short of breath, especially at night or when lying down. Too much fluid in the lungs may also cause coughing, which is why most people with heart failure experience shortness of breath despite having an active lifestyle.

If you have heart failure, your treatment plan should be designed to help prevent your condition from getting worse, control your symptoms, and help you have the best quality of life possible.

Our clinic is a patient-focused environment striving to provide optimal, state-of-the-art care for adults with heart failure using evidence-based therapies.

Conditions We Treat:

  • All types of heart failure
  • Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction
  • Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
  • Heart failure due to valve disease
  • Heart failure due to arrhythmias
  • Dilated cardiomyopathy
  • Ischemic cardiomyopathy
  • Other types of myocarditis
  • Peripartum cardiomyopathy
  • Amyloidosis related heart failure
  • Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD)
  • Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
  • Cardiac sarcoidosis
  • Advanced congenital heart disease
  • Cardiogenic shock

Heart Failure Program Provides:

  • Structured education centered on disease process, guideline directed medical therapy for medication management, diet, exercise, and social wellbeing.
  • Promotion of self-care
  • Easy access to heart failure team that include MD’s, NP’s and RN’s with quick response to patient questions, concerns and needs
  • Close follow-up after hospital discharge or after periods of instability
  • Early recognition to signs and symptoms of fluid overload and management of changes in condition

Services provided for patients with heart failure:

Every patient receives individualized testing and treatment to best meet their needs. Our providers and clinical RN’s make sure patients are taking the correct types of medications needed to keep their heart from getting worse, avoid hospitalization and reduce their risk of dying. Our nurses and cardiac rehabilitation team help patients understand and plan their diet, exercise and lifestyle changes so that they can control heart failure symptoms and enjoy as many regular activities as possible.

Remote Monitoring:

We use devices such as the CardioMEMS Heart Failure system to remotely keep track of patients’ conditions. This small implanted device monitors the patient and alerts the medical team before the patient feels symptoms. Based on the information, the medical team can make changes to the patient’s medications and help to avoid the need for hospitalization.

Video Clip for CardioMEMS

Patient Education: How the CardioMEMS HF System Works

Key Heart Failure Terms:

Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: also called systolic failure is a pumping problem where the left side of the heart does not pump blood well to the organs of the body. This is due to a weak muscle. The left side of the heart can become weak from many reasons such as a heart attack, an infection, taking toxic medications, pregnancy, or a problem with one of the heart valves. Systolic failure is when the left side of the heart cannot pump with enough force to push blood to the body.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: also called diastolic failure (or diastolic dysfunction) occurs when the heart is not able to rest between heart beats. This happens because the heart muscle has become stiff. With this type of heart failure, the blood cannot fill the chamber well causing a lower amount of blood to be pumped out to the body.

Dilated cardiomyopathy: is when the heart chambers enlarge and lose their ability to contract. It often starts in the left ventricle (bottom chamber). As the disease gets worse, it may spread to the right ventricle and to the atria (top chambers).

Ischemic cardiomyopathy: is a condition when your heart muscle is weakened as a result of a heart attack or coronary artery disease.

Peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), also known as postpartum cardiomyopathy, is an uncommon form of heart failure that happens during the last month of pregnancy or up to five months after giving birth. Cardiomyopathy literally means heart muscle disease.

Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle (myocardium). The inflammation can reduce the heart's ability to pump and cause rapid or irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias).

Amyloidosis: is the name for a group of rare, serious conditions caused by a build-up of an abnormal protein called amyloid in organs and tissues throughout the body.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is most often caused by abnormal genes in the heart muscle. These genes cause the walls of the heart chamber (left ventricle) to contract harder and become thicker than normal. The thickened walls become stiff. This reduces the amount of blood taken in and pumped out to the body with each heartbeat.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia / cardiomyopathy (ARVD/C) is a rare familial disorder that may cause ventricular tachycardia and sudden cardiac death in young, apparently healthy individuals. The clinical hallmark of the disease is ventricular arrhythmias, arising predominantly from the right ventricle.

Cardiac sarcoidosis: is a rare inflammatory condition where groups of immune cells form granulomas in different areas of the heart which can cause issues from arrhythmia to heart failure.

Congenital heart disease is one or more problems with the heart's structure that exist since birth. Congenital means that you're born with the condition. Congenital heart disease in adults and children can change the way blood flows through the heart.

Cardiogenic shock, also known as cardiac shock, happens when your heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to the brain and other vital organs. This is a life-threatening emergency. It is treatable if diagnosed right away, so it’s important to know the warning signs.

Service Providers

Amber Frost, NP-C
Cardiology

Janet Lynn Otto, MD
Electrophysiology