An Explanation of Congestive Heart Failure

When Dr. William Withering discovered a treatment for dropsy (now known as CHF), he did not recognize dropsy for what it was: A type of heart failure. The swelling and lung problems seemed completely unrelated to the heart.

The American Heart Association provides an explanation for CHF. To understant CHF, one first needs to know the anatomy of the heart. The heart is dived into two sides: left and right. The left side pumps blood back into the ciruculatory system, while the right side pumps blood to the lungs for oxygen. Each side is divided into a lower chamber (called the ventricle) and an upper chamber (called the atrium). Blood is pumped into the heart through the atrium and is pumped out of the heart through the ventricle.

Heart failure usually starts on the left side of the heart. In some cases, the heart can no longer contract properly. Thus, the heart cannot push the normal amount of blood into circulation. This is called systolic failure. In other cases, the heart loses its ability to relax correctly. Thus, the left ventricle does not fill with the correct amount of blood. This is called diastolic failure.

The slow blood flow from heart failure helps cause the swelling present in CHF. Because it takes longer for blood to flow places, fluid begins to accumulate in the body tissue. This fluid causes the swelling.

When blood tries to flow from the lungs to the left ventricle, it sometimes gets clogged. Some fluid then flows back into the lungs. This causes the excess fluid in the lungs present in CHF. This excess fluid also helps cause heart failure on the right of the heart. The flow of fluid back through the right side of the heart ruins the heart. The right side of the heart becomes weaker and loses pumping power.

The loss of pumping power in the right side of the heart also helps cause swelling in the body. Blood backs up in the veins, causing swelling. This swelling is most commonly found in the legs and ankles.