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 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
The "failing" heart keeps working, but not as efficiently as it
should. People with heart failure can't exert themselves because they
become short of breath and tired.
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