Subscribe to our newsletter. Cardiac asthma is not asthma, it does mimic the wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing of asthma.
Cardiac asthma is one of the signs of congestive heart failure.
Asthma is caused by inflammation of the airways and constriction of smooth muscle surrounding the airways. This is not the case in cardiac asthma. Cardiac asthma begins in the left side of the heart when the left ventricle fails to keep up with the blood flow being pumped from the right ventricle. The right ventricle pumps blood into the lungs to rid the blood of carbon dioxide and pick up fresh oxygen. If the left side of the heart is unable to pump out as much blood as it receives the blood pressure within the lungs begins to increase.