Right ventricular heart failure

Right ventricular heart failure refers to diseases that do not have an exact time frame. This is a chronic disease that you have to put up with for the rest of your life.

Learning to recognize his symptoms, clearly respond to them and follow all the recommendations of the doctor - this is the plan of action that will allow you to avoid relapses. Every person who cares about his future should be informed about the consequences and complications that may arise if the disease is already in full swing.

Speaking of heart failure, experts distinguish 2 types of this disease: right ventricular and left ventricular heart failure. The first type requires special attention.

Problems associated with right ventricular failure

The names of the varieties of heart disease are associated with the place of its defeat.

The difference between the 2 types of the disease is as follows:

1. Left ventricular failure is the result of damage to the left myocardium, which leads to stagnation of blood in the pulmonary circulation.
2. Right ventricular failure is formed in the right part of the myocardium, which means that there are serious problems in the systemic circulation. In other words, blood enters the organs, and with its outflow, big problems arise. As a result, the lungs suffer: the pathological processes occurring in them can be irreversible, and this can lead to death. Pathology is rarely isolated, often it develops as a result of severe left ventricular failure.

Of course, this disease, like any other, has its own “history”.

Its occurrence is most often preceded by such pathologies:

• cardiac ischemia,
• myocardial infarction,
• arterial hypertension,
• stroke,
• atherosclerosis.

These diseases are associated with poor condition of blood vessels, their dystrophy.

With this condition, right ventricular heart failure is the final stage of the pathology.

At this time, the stabilization of the patient's condition is associated with great difficulties: resuscitation may not lead to a positive result. Therefore, knowing the symptoms of the disease is an opportunity to connect to treatment in a timely manner and avoid disability.

Dangerous symptoms

The main thing is to seek medical advice in a timely manner.

So, the symptoms of right ventricular heart failure:

• Pain in the chest, which has a pressing and growing character.
• Feeling of lack of oxygen.
• Dizziness.
• Nausea.
• Weakness.
• Vomit.
• Unstable pressure.
• Possible fainting.
• Swelling of many parts of the body - limbs, neck, face, upper chest.

For those who are close to a person who has such symptoms, it would be useful to know them in order to have time to call an ambulance. External signs of this disease are increasing pallor, flabbiness of the skin.

Edema is one of the first symptoms of right ventricular heart failure. Since blood circulation is especially disturbed in those organs that are located at a distance from the heart, they begin to swell. It's mostly legs and arms. Swelling of the legs begins with the shins, then captures the thighs, in men - the scrotum.

The patient needs to systematically measure the pressure: its sharp changes indicate cardiac pathology.

Too high pressure may be a sign of a hypertensive crisis, and a sharp decrease in the tonometer data indicates that the patient may have a myocardial infarction. A more accurate diagnosis will be confirmed by a specialist.

Organ response to heart failure

The liver also reacts to blood stasis, because it has a lot of blood vessels. It increases in size so much that its lower border is easy to determine on the abdomen just below the navel. The patient complains of pain in the right side. Since the blood stagnates in the internal organs, its liquid part begins to penetrate (squeeze out) through the walls of the vessels into the peritoneum. The accumulation of fluid in this part of the body is called ascites.

As a result:

• disruption of the gastrointestinal tract;
• the patient develops nausea;
• there is a lack of appetite.

If these symptoms develop gradually, the person loses significant weight and looks haggard. The need for urination in such patients during the day is small, and at night the volume of urine increases significantly. This is due to the fact that in the supine position it is easier for the kidneys to perform their functions.

Acute right ventricular failure manifests itself as follows:

1. The veins on the patient's neck increase, and the internal jugular vein (located on the side) begins to pulsate strongly.
2. A person's blood pressure may drop sharply, he may be in a state of shock.
3. In addition, he turns out to have a rapid heartbeat and cyanosis of the extremities due to poor circulation in these areas.

So every minute should count. The help of specialists can stop bad dynamics and improve the patient's condition.