The Anatomy And Physiology Of The Heart - 1675 Words

The aim of this report is to provide an overview of chronic heart failure, examining signs symptoms and treatment related to the case study, medical history. The anatomy and physiology of the heart will be discussed, and the pathophysiology of chronic heart failure. Heart failure is a general term used to describe several types of cardiac dysfunction that result in inadequate perfusion of tissue with vital blood-borne nutrients. Most causes of heart failure result from dysfunction of the left ventricle. The size of the heart is approximately the size of a persons closed fist. The weight is less than a pound, the heart is snugly enclosed within the Infer mediastinum, and the medial section of the thoracic cavity, the heart is flanked on†¦show more content†¦The right side continues to propel blood to the lungs, the left side is not able to eject the returning blood into the systemic system circulation (Farrell Dempsey, 2014) Blood vessels in the lungs become swollen with blood, creating pressure within the lungs. Pressure within the lungs increases as fluid leaks from the circulation into the lung tissue. Causing pulmonary oedema (Marieb, 2014) Heart failure is a condition where the heart fails to pump and circulate an adequate supply of blood to meet the requirements of the body. The muscles of the heart become less efficient and damaged, leading to overload on the heart. (Craft, Gordon, Tiziani, Huether, 2011) Some of the main pathologies of heart failure include. The muscle contraction of the heart may weaken due to overloading of the ventricle with blood during diastole. In a healthy individual, an overloading of blood in the ventricle triggers an increases in muscle contraction, to raise the cardiac output. In heart failure, however, this mechanism fails due to weakened cardiac muscles (Neighbors Tannehill-Jones, 2010) To compensate for the lowered cardiac output, the heart rate rises. This makes the condition worse as the heart muscles require more nutrients to work and the myocardial muscles pump at an increased rate (Koutoukidis, Stainton, Hughson, 2013) There are several conditions that can lead to heart failure. One example is heart muscle damage caused by a