Patient was educated on systolic heart failure as follows:
- Systole is the phase of heartbeat when the heart contracts and pumps the blood out. Systolic heart failure is an inability of the heart to pump blood out of the heart during contraction of the heart.
- This typically is the failure of lower chamber on the left side (left ventricle), whose contraction results in pumping of blood from the heart.
- When the heart is in failure and not functioning optimally, fluid backs up in the chambers of the heart, pulmonary circulation and peripheral circulation. This results in increased pressure in individual chambers of the heart, pulmonary blood vessels, and peripheral veins, resulting in fluid accumulation in the lungs, shortness of breath, and edema of the extremities.
- If this situation is not controlled and the damage further continues, the veins will fail draining blood into the heart during diastole, as the chambers are already loaded with backed up blood, thus resulting in diastolic heart failure.
- So, poorly managed systolic heart failure, over a period, can lead to diastolic heart failure.
