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Heart Failure Guidelines

Heart failure, or congestive heart failure, is a term used to describe the heart's inability to pump a volume of blood sufficient to maintain bodily health. Despite its name, the condition does not indicate a complete heart stoppage (cardiac arrest), but rather a serious or life-threatening degradation of the heart's normal performance. Guidelines for treatment of heart failure include lifestyle changes, medications and surgery.

  1. Lifestyle Changes

    • If you are diagnosed with heart failure, your doctor will likely include lifestyle modification as a major component of treatment. If your diet is heavy in cholesterol, salt or saturated fat, you will be asked to switch to a diet that de-emphasizes these foods in favor of whole grains, fruits and vegetables. You will also be asked to avoid foods containing trans fat, or partially hydrogenated oil. Adequate potassium intake is vitally important for heart failure patients, and you can add a good supply of this element by eating foods such as beets, raisins, strawberries, greens and bananas. To help create a solid approach to food planning, consult the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet.

      Additional lifestyle measures to combat heart failure include proper exercise, maintenance of a healthy weight for your body type and size, and elimination of harmful habits such as smoking and drug abuse. You will also need to eliminate alcohol use. While a good daily intake of fluids such as water is usually a positive health step, high fluid intake may actually harm you if your heart failure is severe.

    Heart Failure Medications

    • Medications are another major factor in treating heart failure. Depending on your particular circumstances, your doctor may prescribe one or more of a number of different compounds. Digoxin or digitalis (Lanoxin) may be used to strengthen your heart's contractions and slow your heartbeat. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors act to improve your blood flow, reduce your blood pressure and decrease the overall strain on your heart. Examples include captopril (Capoten) and enalapril (Vasotec). Angiotensin 2 receptor blockers such as losartan (Cozaar) achieve the same results without some of the side effects of ACE inhibitors.

      Beta blockers such as bisoprolol (Zebeta) and metoprolol (Lopressor) work to reduce your blood pressure and decrease your heart rate, in addition to reducing your chances of developing heart rhythm irregularities. Diuretics diminish your chances of complications from fluid retention. Examples include furosemide (Lasix) and bumetanide (Bumex). Consult your doctor for a full explanation of any medications she may prescribe.

    Surgical Treatments

    • In some cases, your doctor may recommend a surgical procedure such as valve replacement to treat problems triggering your heart failure. You may also receive a surgically implanted device designed to stabilize or assist your heart. Examples include pacemakers, implantable defibrillators used to shock your heart back to normal rhythm and heart pumps, which are placed in the abdomen and attached to your heart to help it contract properly. Consult your doctor for a detailed explanation of these surgeries, as well as other experimental procedures now under development.

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