2. Learning Outcomes
• To gain an understanding of what heart failure is
• The pathophysiology of heart failure
• The classification of heart failure
• The common signs and symptoms
• The diagnosis of heart failure
3. Define Heart failure
• Heart failure is a clinical syndrome that results from an inability
of the heart to maintain adequate cardiac output.
• But what is the importance of maintaining adequate cardiac
output?
4. Aetiology
• Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome with multiple aetiologies
• Commonly secondary to ischaemic heart disease or
hypertensive heart disease
• It is a progressive disorder associated with high morbidity and
mortalilty
6. Acute vs Chronic
• Acute Heart Failure – rapid onset of symptoms and/or signs of
heart failure that is usually life threatening
• Requires urgent evaluation and treatment
• Chronic Heart Failure – due to progressive cardiac dysfunction
from structural and/or functional cardiac abnormalities
• Could be due to cardiomyopathy, ischemic heart disease, aortic
stenosis
7. Systolic vs Diastolic
• - Systolic heart failure – reduction in the left ventricular ejection
fraction
• Heart if pumping out reduced proportion of the blood that fills its
ventricles during diastole
• Diastolic heart failure – impaired ventricular relaxation or filling
• Contraction in systole is not affected .
