Disease: heart failure
Question: for heart failure, how is heart failure treated??
Answer: Treating heart failure depends on the severity of your condition and the type of heart failure you have.
Early treatment can improve symptoms fairly quickly, but you should still get regular testing and follow up with your doctor every 3 to 6 months. The main goal of treatment is to increase your lifespan.
Treatment of heart failure may include one or more of the following:
medication
bypass surgery
percutaneous coronary intervention
a pacemaker
an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)
transplant surgery
Let�s take a closer look at each of these treatments and what they entail.
Medication
Early stages of heart failure may be treated with medications to help relieve your symptoms and prevent your condition from getting worse. Certain medications are prescribed to:
improve your heart�s ability to pump blood
reduce blood clots
reduce your heart rate, when necessary
remove excess sodium and replenish potassium levels
reduce cholesterol levels
reduce adverse hormones and reactions that occur in your body that can make the heart weaker
These medications can include:
blood thinners
angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors
angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs)
beta-blockers
calcium channel blockers
cholesterol-lowering medications
nitrates
angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors (ARNI)
sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors
hydralazine
ivabradine in some cases
verquvo (vericiguat) in some cases
Always speak with your doctor before taking new medications. Some medications are completely off-limits to people with heart failure, including naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn) and ibuprofen (Advil, Midol).
Surgery
Bypass surgery
Some people with heart failure will need surgery, such as coronary bypass surgery. During this surgery, your surgeon will take a healthy piece of an artery or vein and attach it to the blocked coronary artery. This allows the blood to bypass the blocked, damaged artery and flow through the new one.
Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)
Your doctor may also suggest a procedure known as a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In this procedure, a catheter with a small balloon attached is inserted into the blocked or narrowed artery. Once the catheter reaches the damaged artery, your surgeon inflates a balloon to open the artery.
Your surgeon may need to place a permanent stent, or wire mesh tube, into the blocked or narrowed artery. A stent permanently holds your artery open and can help prevent further narrowing of the artery.
Pacemakers
Other people with heart failure will need pacemakers to help control heart rhythms. These small devices are placed into the chest. They can slow your heart rate when the heart is beating too quickly or increase your heart rate if the heart is beating too slowly. Pacemakers are often used along with bypass surgery as well as medications.
Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)
An ICD is a battery-powered device that keeps track of your heart rate and will shock your heart if it detects an abnormal heart rhythm. This shock restores the heart rate back to a normal rhythm. An ICD is suggested for people with an ejection fraction (how much blood your heart pumps out with each contraction) less than 35 percent (if not due to blockages) and <30 percent if due to blockages.
Transplant surgery
Heart transplants are used in the final stages of heart failure when all other treatments have failed. During a transplant, your surgeon removes all or part of your heart and replaces it with a heart from a donor.