The human heart is one
of the most important and beautiful organs in the human body. While being the
size of an individual’s fully-grown fist, the human heart is engineered to
perfection with one task and one task only… to pump oxygen-rich blood to the rest
of the body. This masterpiece, however, is not invincible. Depending on one’s
genetics, eating habits or age, the heart could develop a defect. Heart
disease/failure is the “Leading cause of death” in the United States (CDC Data
for the U.S). The most common diagnosis for heart disease/failure is “Coronary
heart disease” according to the NHS (National Health Service). However, there
are many different categories in the field of heart diseases such as Congenital
heart disease, arrhythmia heart disease, diastolic heart failure, and ejection
fraction heart failure. For this review, we will focus on two specific
illnesses: diastolic heart failure, and ejection fraction heart failure.
The beating vessel in
our chest is made up of four main components: the right atrium and the right
ventricle followed by the left atrium and left ventricle. The right atrium is
responsible for pumping deoxygenated blood into the right ventricle of the
heart. This section of the heart (the right ventricle) pumps blood through your
pulmonary veins which leads to your lungs, supplying fresh oxygen to your
blood. From there, the blood flows through your pulmonary arteries and into
your left ventricle, and from there it flows into the left atrium and into your
aorta, supplying the oxygenated blood back into your body. However, for this
review, we will be focusing on two main components of the heart, the right, and
the left ventricle. When an individual faces diastolic heart failure, one or
both of their ventricles become stiff or harder than they need to be,
restricting the amount of deoxygenated and oxygenated blood to be pumped to the
heart or body. Therefore, an individual may experience symptoms that include
shortness of breath, constant fatigue, swelling of ankles, legs, feet, etc.
Your ventricular heart muscles thicken because your heart is working twice or
three times as hard to pump blood to the left atrium and to the aorta.
In the event of ejection fraction failure, it is
only the left ventricle that dilates and struggles to relax when receiving
oxygenated blood. Ejection fraction failure is dangerous because it is your
left ventricle that is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of
the body, if it cannot do that then you are starving your muscles and other
important organs of oxygen-rich blood, causing them to fail and eventually shut
down.
In order to diagnose
someone correctly with diastolic heart failure, one must follow three main
criterions. “(1) show symptoms and signs consistent with heart failure
(including dyspnea); (2) have a nondilated left ventricle with preserved
ejection fraction ≥50%; and (3) display evidence of structural heart disease,
such as evidence of diastolic dysfunction on echocardiography.” (The American
Journal of Medicine). Making sure that a patient shows obvious signs of
dyspnea, which means difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, that they
display a regular, nondilated left ventricle, meaning that their left ventricle
is not working harder than it should when pumping blood and three; to show
difficulty relaxing when heart chambers fill with blood (diastolic
dysfunction). These are three important, life-changing steps that if followed
correctly could properly diagnose someone with diastolic heart failure. The
left ventricle and the blood percentage when filling the left ventricle is what
determines whether or not an individual is facing ejection fraction heart
failure or diastolic heart failure.
Now when diagnosing a
patient with ejection fraction heart failure, a physician must look for similar
symptoms of a patient with diastolic heart failure. They must show signs of
fatigue, shortness of breath, etc. However, the main difference would be the
dilation of one's left ventricle and the amount of blood being pumped out lower than
40%. The dilation of one's left ventricle tells us that there is very little
relaxation taking place when the left ventricle relaxes to fill with blood;
because of this, the ventricle will dilate (grow in size).
Both diastolic and ejection fraction failure
have similar symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, and constant
fatigue just to name a few. With both ailments so similar, it is easy to blur
the line between the two. So, if a
doctor were to passively look at reports, a misdiagnosis may occur, resulting
in the use of unnecessary materials, costing the hospital and the patient money
and possibly their life. However, for
every problem, there is a solution. If we were to follow and check the criteria
list thoroughly, following the three basic rules when diagnosing someone with
heart disease/failure, correct diagnosis rates would skyrocket, limiting the
amount of misdiagnosis, which would in return, lower the rates of heart-related
deaths. Furthermore, hospitals would save time and resources while saving the
lives of people by applying a more effective treatment the first time,
providing patients with a speedy recovery. The human heart is one of the most
important and beautiful organs in the human body. While being the size of an
individual’s fully-grown fist, the human heart is engineered to perfection with
one task and one task only… to pump oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.
This masterpiece, however, is not invincible. Depending on one’s genetics,
eating habits or age, the heart could develop a defect. Heart disease/failure
is the “Leading cause of death” in the United States (CDC Data for the U.S).
The most common diagnosis for heart disease/failure is “Coronary heart disease”
according to the NHS (National Health Service). However, there are many
different categories in the field of heart diseases such as Congenital heart
disease, arrhythmia heart disease, diastolic heart failure, and ejection
fraction heart failure. For this review, we will focus on two specific
illnesses: diastolic heart failure, and ejection fraction heart
failure.
The beating vessel in
our chest is made up of four main components: the right atrium and the right
ventricle followed by the left atrium and left ventricle. The right atrium
is responsible for pumping deoxygenated blood into the right ventricle of the
heart. This section of the heart (the right ventricle) pumps blood through your
pulmonary veins which leads to your lungs, supplying fresh oxygen to your
blood. From there, the blood flows through your pulmonary arteries and into
your left ventricle, and from there it flows into the left atrium and into your
aorta, supplying the oxygenated blood back into your body. However, for this review,
we will be focusing on two main components of the heart, the right ventrical, and the left ventricle. When an individual faces diastolic heart failure, one
or both of their ventricles become stiff or harder than they need to be, restricting
the amount of deoxygenated and oxygenated blood to be pumped to the heart or
body. Therefore, an individual may experience symptoms that include shortness
of breath, constant fatigue, swelling of ankles, legs, feet, etc. Your
ventricular heart muscles thicken because your heart is working twice or three
times as hard to pump blood to the left atrium and to the aorta.
In the event of ejection fraction failure, it is
only the left ventricle that dilates and struggles to relax when receiving oxygenated
blood. Ejection fraction failure is dangerous because it is your left ventricle
that is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to the rest of the body if it
cannot do that then you are starving your muscles and other important organs of
oxygen-rich blood, causing them to fail and eventually shut down.
In order to diagnose
someone correctly with diastolic heart failure, one must follow three main
criterions. “(1) show symptoms and signs consistent with heart failure
(including dyspnea); (2) have a nondilated left ventricle with preserved
ejection fraction ≥50%; and (3) display evidence of structural heart disease,
such as evidence of diastolic dysfunction on echocardiography.” (The American
Journal of Medicine). Making sure that a patient shows obvious signs of
dyspnea, which means difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, that they
display a regular, nondilated left ventricle, meaning that their left ventricle
is not working harder than it should when pumping blood and three; to show
difficulty relaxing when heart chambers fill with blood (diastolic
dysfunction). These are three important, life-changing steps that if followed
correctly could properly diagnose someone with diastolic heart failure. The
left ventricle and the blood percentage when filling the left ventricle is what
determines whether or not an individual is facing ejection fraction heart
failure or diastolic heart failure.
Now when diagnosing a patient
with ejection fraction heart failure, a physician must look for similar
symptoms of a patient with diastolic heart failure. They must show signs of
fatigue, shortness of breath, etc. However, the main difference would be the
dilation of one's left ventricle and the amount of blood being pumped out lower
than 40%. The dilation of one's left ventricle tells us that there is very
little relaxation taking place when the left ventricle relaxes to fill with
blood; because of this, the ventricle will dilate (grow in size).
Both diastolic and
ejection fraction failure have similar symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest
pain, and constant fatigue just to name a few. With both ailments so similar,
it is easy to blur the line between the two. So, if a doctor were to passively look at
reports, a misdiagnosis may occur, resulting in the use of unnecessary
materials, costing the hospital and the patient money and possibly their life. However, for every problem, there is a
solution. If we were to follow and check the criteria list thoroughly,
following the three basic rules when diagnosing someone with heart
disease/failure, correct diagnosis rates would skyrocket, limiting the amount
of misdiagnosis, which would in return, lower the rates of heart-related
deaths. Furthermore, hospitals would save time and resources while saving the lives
of people by applying a more effective treatment the first time, providing
patients with a speedy recovery.
By: Joshua Modeste, University of Florida
References
National Health Service, Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronary-heart-disease/symptoms/
CDC, NCHS. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2013 on CDC WONDER
Online
Database, released 2015.
Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2013, as compiled from
data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital
Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed Feb. 3, 2015.Argulian, E., & Messerli, F. H.
(n.d.). Misconceptions and Facts About “Diastolic” Heart Failure.
Argulian, E., & Messerli, F. H. (2014). Review: Misconceptions
and Facts About ‘Diastolic’
Heart Failure. The American
Journal of Medicine, 127, 1144–1147.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2014.06.010
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.