Heart failure may be due to a primary disease of the heart muscle, which is called cardiomyopathy, or may be secondary to diseases which affect the heart muscle such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, or various diseases of the heart valves.
Heart failure is divided into various types.
This may result in fluid accumulating in the lungs and the patient complaining of shortness of breath. Heart failure is further subdivided into systolic dysfunction, which is an abnormality of contraction of the pumping chambers of the heart and diastolic dysfunction where the pumping chamber may be contracting normally but does not relax properly, i.e., they are stiff. It is important to try to understand the difference types of heart failure since the treatment may vary depending on the type. Treatment usually consists of lifestyle alterations and a combination of medications, although surgery may be recommended in some cases. This is the same type of information that is available to physicians and other health care professionals.