Patient/caregiver was educated on pathophysiology of left-sided heart failure as follows:
- Left side of the heart receives oxygen rich blood from the lungs and pumps this blood to the vital organs of the body through the general circulation.
- Strong contractions of the chambers on the left heart are needed for effective pumping of oxygen rich blood to the tissues.
- Damaged muscle on left side of heart, secondary to various factors, cannot contract effectively, contributing to poor contractions of the heart chambers.
- Ineffective and poor contractions of left side of heart result in inability of heart chambers to pump adequate blood to vital organs and tissues, such as, heart, brain, and kidneys.
- Inadequate blood supply to vital organs, in due course of time, contribute to progressively compromised vital organ function.
- Inadequate pumping of blood out of heart contributes to increased retention and back-up of blood into the heart chambers on the left side.
- Progressive back-up of blood in the heart chambers can increase the pressure within the left side of heart.
- This increased pressure in the left-sided chambers resists filling of these chambers with blood coming from the lungs, as the chambers are already loaded with backed up blood.
- This eventually results in progressive back-up of blood into the lungs and result in symptoms such as, fluid retention in the chest leading to difficulty in gas exchange in the lungs, poor oxygen pick-up in the lungs, exacerbation of shortness of breath, and compromised endurance.
- If this situation is not controlled and the damage continues further, progressive back-up of blood in the chest leads to increased pressures on right side of heart, right-sided heart failure, swelling of the extremities with pitting edema, and acute weight gain.
