Heart Failure
If heart failure is affecting your work, play or quality of life, our cardiologists are here to help.
What is heart failure?
Heart failure means that the heart is not able to continuously pump oxygen-rich blood in and out of the heart. So if you suffer from heart failure, your body is not receiving the amount of oxygenated blood necessary to function properly. Examples of how we can help include medication and lifestyle changes.
Heart failure treatments
Rarely is heart failure treated with surgery, and there is no cure for heart failure. Often, patients who suffer from heart failure are asked to take medications to treat the symptoms and attempt to prevent the disease from getting worse.
Some of the medications your doctor may prescribe include:
- ACE inhibitors
- Aldosterone antagonists
- Angiotensin II receptor blockers
- Beta blockers
- Digoxin
- Diuretics
- Inotropes
There are more aggressive treatment options, such as:
- Implantable cardioverter defibrillator – A small electronic device implanted under the skin, near the collarbone, that helps monitor and correct irregular heart rhythm.
- Cardiac resynchronization therapy – A form of pacemaker that uses pulses of electricity to help the two lower heart chambers beat as they should, which can help alleviate shortness of breath and other heart failure symptoms.
- Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) – Expert surgeons use a piece of healthy blood vessel, usually from the leg or wrist, to bypass a blocked portion of coronary artery that is reducing blood flow to the heart.
- Ventricular assist devices (VADs) – A mechanical device implanted in the heart to take over the pumping action for one or both of the heart's pumping chambers, or ventricles.
- Heart valve replacement – Our heart specialists use traditional and minimally invasive procedures to repair or replace heart valves that are not functioning properly.
Explore our heart surgery options.
Cardiac rehabilitation
Especially for those who have heart surgery for heart failure, cardiac rehabilitation can help your heart recover after surgery or a heart attack. Our physicians and nurses work seamlessly with our cardiac rehabilitation team to provide you with a personalized plan to get you back to the activities and people you love.
