Heart Failure: Screening, Stages & Treatment

By Medical Expert Team

Apr 24 , 2023 | 2 min read

Heart failure is chronic medical condition marked by the inability of the heart to perform is function of pumping blood to various different organs of the body. It can be the outcome of many different factors all of which severely damage the patient's heart and heart muscles, posing a serious threat to the patient's life. The treatment for heart failure is available at all the leading heart hospitals. In case of heart failure, the patient needs to be immediately rushed to the hospital where detailed diagnosis is done for proper assessment and the treatment is planned accordingly.

As far as the treatment is concerned, the problem can be tackled only after proper diagnosis which helps the doctor to determine the adversity of the patient condition and the extent to which the problem has spread. As per the best heart surgeon in Mumbai, the sooner the problem is diagnosed,better is the survival rate after treatment.

Screening of Heart Failure

The best heart failure hospital in India have their own specialized labs where a number of tests and screenings are performed which include blood tests, chest X-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG), stress test, cardiac computerized tomography (CT) scan, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), coronary angiogram and myocardial biopsy.

Stages of Heart Failure

Based on these tests, doctors from the best hospital in India classify heart failure into four different stages.

Stage I - patient does not experience any symptoms and the problem is usually detected accidentally.

Stage II - patient's do not experience any symptoms usually however these become evident when the patient over exerts himself.

Stage III - patients feels extreme difficulty in performing day to day activities.

Stage IV - it is the most severe form of heart failure in which the patient experiences chronic symptoms even at rest.

Treatment of Heart Failure

Once the test and screenings are conducted and the stage is determined, the doctors device out a proper medical protocol to be undertaken. Heart failure is a chronic disease which means that it last for a lifetime and hence requires lifelong management. Treatment can have to improve the signs and symptoms and also add some more years to the patient's life. Doctors mainly try to target the underlying cause of heart failure and aim at preventing any further damage.

Initially, your doctor might recommend certain medicines which may help with the symptoms and help to reduce pain and discomfort. These include Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, Angiotensin II receptor blockers, Beta blockers, Diuretics, Aldosterone antagonists, Inotropes and Digoxin (Lanoxin).

Surgery is usually recommended when all the treatment options fail to work. The surgery helps to correct any abnormality or restore the normal working of heart wherever possible. These aim at the repair as well as the replacement of the affected part the most common surgeries used to treat patients suffering from chronic heart failure include coronary bypass surgery, heart valve repair surgery and heart valve replacement surgery. The surgery can be carried out using the traditional open heart technique for via new minimally invasive cardiac surgery methods.

In some cases certain implantable devices are also used to assist the heart in performing its function. These include ventricular assist devices.

About from all these treatment methods, healthy lifestyle changes are also recommended by the best specialists to keep the problem under control. These include healthy and balanced diet an active lifestyle. The patients need to avoid smoking and drinking and abstain from the consumption of unhealthy fat products as these can increase the cholesterol levels in the body which is extremely harmful for the heart.