Valve defects and holes in the inner separating walls of the heart are forms of congenital heart disease. For example, an atrial septal defect is an opening in the wall separating the two upper chambers of the heart, which causes blood to flow abnormally, from the left to the right side of the heart. It is usually repaired surgically. A ventricular septal defect occurs between the two lower chambers of the heart. A diagnosis of congestive heart failure is made when one experiences symptoms caused by the heart's inability to pump blood forward on demand.
Blood begins to back up, and pressure within the heart rises.
Symptoms include shortness of breath, swelling, fatigue and decreased tolerance for exercise. There are several kinds of heart muscle disease that enlarge heart chambers causing weakening of the heart. Cardiomyopathy, is a general term doctors often use to describe diseases of heart muscle. If blood vessels are narrowed because of atherosclerosis or other causes, the heart must pump harder than normal to circulate blood resulting in high blood pressure or hypertension. Eventually if hypertension is not well managed, the heart chambers may become enlarged and the heart muscle may thicken.