Heart failure, also known as congestive heart failure, is a condition that develops when your heart doesn’t pump enough blood for your body’s needs.
This can happen if your heart can’t fill up with enough blood. It can also happen when your heart is too weak to pump properly.
What causes left-sided heart failure?
Left-sided heart failure is more common than right-sided heart failure.
There are two types of left-sided heart failure, each based on how well your heart pumps. This measurement is called the ejection fraction.
The Diagnosis section has more information about ejection fraction.
In heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), the left side of your heart is weak and can’t pump enough blood to the rest of your body.
Chronic conditions that damage or weaken the heart muscles are the main cause of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.
For example, coronary heart disease or a heart attack can prevent your heart muscle from getting enough oxygen.
Other causes of this type of heart failure include faulty heart valves, an irregular heartbeat, or heart diseases that you are born with or inherit.
How a heart attack can lead to heart failure. A section of dead heart muscle caused by a heart attack prevents the heart from getting the oxygen it needs.
In heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), the left side of your heart is too stiff to fully relax between heartbeats. That means it can’t fill up with enough blood to pump out to your body.
High blood pressure and other conditions that make your heart work harder are the main causes of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.
Conditions that stiffen the chambers of the heart such as obesity and diabetes are also causes of this type of heart failure. Over time, your heart muscle thickens to adapt, which makes it stiffer.
The Diagnosis section includes more about heart failure with preserved or reduced ejection fraction and how doctors diagnose it.
What causes right-sided heart failure?
Over time left-sided heart failure can lead to right-sided heart failure.
In right-sided heart failure, your heart can’t pump enough blood to your lungs to pick up oxygen. Left-sided heart failure is the main cause of right-sided heart failure.
That’s because left-sided heart failure can cause blood to build up on the left side of your heart.
The build-up of blood raises the pressure in the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to your lungs. This is called pulmonary hypertension, and it can make the right side of your heart work harder.
Congenital heart defects or conditions that damage the right side of your heart such as abnormal heart valves can also lead to right-side heart failure.
The same is true for conditions that damage the lungs, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
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