Congestive Heart Failure
The heart is fundamentally a blood pump. It pumps blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The oxygenated blood returns to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart then pumps blood into the circulatory system of blood vessels that carry blood throughout the body. Heart failure is an illness in which the pumping action of the heart becomes less and less powerful. When this happens, blood does not move efficiently through the circulatory system and starts to backup, increasing the pressure in the blood vessels and forcing fluid from the blood vessels into body tissues. Symptoms depend on which area of the body is most involved in the reduced pumping action. Caused by an underlying
The heart is fundamentally a blood pump. It pumps blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The oxygenated blood returns to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart then pumps blood into the circulatory system of blood vessels that carry blood throughout the body. Heart failure is an illness in which the pumping action of the heart becomes less and less powerful. When this happens, blood does not move efficiently through the circulatory system and starts to backup, increasing the pressure in the blood vessels and forcing fluid from the blood vessels into body tissues. Symptoms depend on which area of the body is most involved in the reduced pumping action. Caused by an underlying