Signs & Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure in Infants

Congestive Heart Failure, commonly known as CHF, is a medical condition in which there is inadequate supply of blood to the various body parts due to problem in the structure or functioning of the heart. This condition is generally more prevalent in infants these days. Some of the common causes that lead to CHF in infants are hypertension, myocardial infarction and cardiomyopathy.

Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure

• CHF symptoms are generally classified into right- and left-sided heart failure symptoms. These two symptoms are classified and elucidated below.

Left Sided Heart Failure Symptoms

• Failure in the left ventricle leads to congestion in the pulmonary artery, thus leading to left-sided CHF in infants. Shortening in breath is often experienced by patients, along with severe breathless during nighttime generally before going off to bed. Another common symptom associated with left-sided CHF is tiredness among infants, thus leading to long hours of sleeping by such infants.

Right Sided CHF Symptoms

• Generally a swelling occurs under the skin of infants suffering from CHF, which causes them severe pain. Other common symptoms include nocturia, excessive night time urination. In some cases, infants may suffer from swelling of the liver, thus impairing the functioning of the liver in the infants body.

Signs Associated With Congestive Heart Failure in Infants

• The signs associated with Congestive Heart Failure in infants are also divided classified as right-sided and left-sided signs of CHF. The signs are elucidated below.

Signs of Left-sided CHF in Infants

• Common signs associated with left-sided CHF in infants include increased rate of respiration. In severe cases, patient might develop pleural effusion, fluid gets accumulated in between the lungs and the chest wall of the patient. Other symptoms include the hearing of extra heart beat sounds and heart murmurs.

Signs Associated with Right Sided CHF in Infants

• A general signs associated with right-sided CHF in infants is edema near the peripheral parts of the body, which leads to increased vein pressure in patients suffering from CHF.