Heart Failure Prevention and Treatment - Dr. Anurag Sharma

May it be the world’s biggest problem; we can always find a solution for any. May it be a social problem, a natural problem or a health problem, we always have an answer, a solution waiting to be found. In today’s time, there is nearly no disease which is not having a cure. We now have a way out from almost every problem.

But now the question arises that Can a heart failure be prevented?

There are certain causes of heart failure like obesity, hypertension, valvular diseases of heart, hyperthyroidism. Treating these risk factors at an early stage can prevent heart failure. Most important risk factor, diagnose and treatment of which is usually delayed in our country, is the coronary artery disease. Untreated Coronary artery disease can lead to heart failure in most of the patients. If any patient has angina (chest pain) at rest or impending heart attack, he/she must be given re-perfusion therapy at the earliest, to restore blood flow, either by thrombolysis or by primary angioplasty.

Changes in Lifestyle

The heart is the protagonist part of the body which can get affected by even the most minor activity change of the body. Changes in the lifestyle can either make your heart healthy or even can take your heart to greater damages. Some of the value points which you need to embed in your lifestyle are as follows. Living according to those can bring a lot of difference in the health of the heart.

• Mild to moderate exercise should be encouraged under the guidance of doctors.
• Avoid cigarettes, alcohol and recreational drugs.
• A low salt diet often limited to 2gm per day should be followed.
• Total intake of fluids should be restricted to 1.5 litres. It may change depending upon the condition of the patient, and the patient must follow the advice of doctors.
• Monitoring of weekly body weight is recommended. Any weight gain should be an alert for the onset of decompensation.
• Avoid heavy meals, heavy exertion, anger and depression.
• A positive attitude helps and has a “can-do attitude “should be practised by the patients. Research has shown that the patients who can adapt to the illness and take control of it to do better.
• Regular follow up with your Cardiologist.

Symptoms

Though the problem is the silent invader, still it can leave behind some traces which could be detected and help eradicate the problem before it is too late. These symptoms can be:

• Chest pain or discomfort that lasts more than 15 minutes at rest
• Severe persistent breathlessness
• Fainting episode
• Trouble sleeping due to breathlessness
• A nocturnal cough and pink frothy sputum
• Fast heart rate.

If you detect these symptoms, don’t give a second thought to rush to your doctor.

EF or Ejection Fraction

Doctors sometimes use a lot of technical jargons which might not be understood by a layman. Usually, in the cases of Heart Failure doctors are mostly heard using the term Ejection Fraction or EF. Now let’s know what EF is and what its link with heart failure is. 

It is the measure of the pumping capacity of the heart. It is found out by echocardiography and its value is the most important parameter in these patients. 

If a patient has ejection EF of 35% or less, then these patients are at more risk of going into clinical heart failure and sudden cardiac death. The ejection fraction can change with time despite treatment and can increase or decrease depending upon many factors.

Ways to get out of the Problem

You might start to get panicking reading the above statement. But as I said, there is always a way out. There still are many ways by which we can save these people and give them a new life. 

Let’s find out those ways. 

Majority of the patients, if managed by a well-coordinated medical team approach in a heart failure clinic, can lead a very good life without any problems. The medical team approach provides patients with cardiologist care, nutrition management, exercise program and monitoring of certain blood tests. 

Few patients can improve by CRT (Cardiac Resynchronizing Therapy), a therapy in which the patients are given triple chamber pacing so that their heart chambers move in a synchronized manner. This leads to an increase in the ejection fraction, symptomatic improvement and increase in their lifespan. 

Sudden death is another form of problem which these patients suffer. These patients will be doing fine and suddenly they can collapse because of ventricular fibrillation. This can be prevented by use of proper drugs and by implanting of pacemaker known as AICD. This helps in giving a shock to these patients in case they suffer ventricular fibrillation, and a life can be saved. 

The artificial heart is also a choice in a few patients but is very costly and only beneficial to the selected patient group. Heart transplantation can be done in a few eligible patients to give them a new lease of life, and this treatment modality is now available in selected centres in India.

Closing Comments

Dr Anurag Sharma holds speciality in catering to every heart problem and holds expertise in handling emergency cases. With years of successful experience and skilled expertise, Dr Anurag has proven to be one of the best and most loved cardiologists in North India. 

Dr Anurag Sharma is an Interventional Cardiologist and is a director at OJAS Super Speciality Hospital, Sector 26, Panchkula. He is a heart failure specialist and can help you with any heart-related queries. 

Reach out to the best cardiologist in north india - Dr Anurag Sharma and get the best treatments and guidance for your good health.