Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, is a condition in which the heart is too weak to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Heart failure often gets worse with time.

When heart failure has progressed to the most serious stage, it is known as advanced or end-stage heart failure.

Shortness of Breath: In the initial stages of heart failure, the patient is likely to experience shortness of breath with mild activity such as taking a flight of stairs. In advanced heart failure, he or she may experience shortness of breath even while sitting still.

Sleep issues: Heart failure makes it hard to breathe when the patient is lying in bed. As such, the patient has trouble falling asleep or often wakes up in the middle of the night gasping for air.
This is likely to get worse as the condition goes to advanced stages.

Severe Cough: Heart failure often causes dry cough that gets worse when the patient is lying down. In some cases, the patients may experience a pink tinted phlegm indicating blood.
Advanced heart failure can make it worse, especially when the patient is lying down.

Persistent Fatigue: Heart failure, especially in the advanced stages makes the patient feel tired or exhausted all the time. Even normal daily activities like taking a shower or brushing your teeth can make the individual feel worn out.

Inflammation: When your heart is unable to move blood through the body, it is likely to build up in different body parts. This leads to inflammation or swelling in abdomen, feet, ankles of legs.
The patient may also experience weight gain.

Lack of Appetite: Heart failure is likely to have an impact on the patient’s appetite. He or she is less likely to feel hungry & will eat much less than what they normally did. This is even more noticeable in advanced heart failure cases.
However, the patient is unlikely to lose weight as advanced heart failure causes fluid build up in the body that leads to weight gain.

There are a set of clinical clues that can be used to identify a patient with advanced heart failure. Some of these include:

Persistent Symptoms: The signs & symptoms discussed in the above section are a strong indicator that the patient has progressed to the advanced stage.

Recurrent ER visits: When the patient is admitted to a hospital at least twice in a span of one year.

Systolic blood pressure less than 100 mm HG: As the heart gets progressively weaker, the blood pressure starts to decline from the baseline blood pressure.

Erratic Kidney Function: When the patient’s creatinine levels or BUN levels rise, it can be point towards heart’s inability to pump blood properly.

Intolerance to medications: Beta blockers & ACE inhibitors are often life saving in case of heart failure patients. When the patient is unable to tolerate these medications, it can be a signal that the condition has progressed to advanced heart failure.

A combination of these could be a signal to advanced heart failure.

Being diagnosed with advanced heart failure can be terrifying. But it is important to understand that it is NOT a death sentence as the name may seem to indicate.

With latest innovations & advancements in technology, there is now hope even for patients diagnosed with Advanced Heart Failure. Dr. Sudheer Koganti is a Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist with over 15 years of experience in successfully treating various heart ailments including advanced heart failure. Dr Sudheer Koganti is the best doctor for advanced heart failure treatment.

There are various interventions available for advanced heart failure. These include:

Open Heart Surgery

Coronary artery bypass graft

Valve Surgery

Percutaneous Valve intervention

Percutaneous Coronary Intervention or Coronary Angioplasty

Implantable Cardioverter defibrillator

Implantable Left Ventricular Assist Device

Heart Transplant

To consult Dr. Sudheer Koganti, the best cardiologist in Hyderabad, book an appointment now.