What are the treatments for heart failure

Heart failure can be said to be a patient's health time bomb, which may explode at any time. Therefore, patients with heart failure live very carefully in their lives. Heart failure is a disease with a long incubation period. Therefore, it is quite difficult to treat, causing many patients to suffer from the disease for a long time. Here I will explain to the majority of patients what are the treatments for heart failure.

(1) Initial treatment is oxygen inhalation via mask or nasal cannula; morphine, loop diuretics, cardiotonic drugs, etc. are given intravenously. Have the patient sit or semi-recumbent with his legs hanging down to reduce venous return in the lower limbs and prevent excessive pressure on the heart from causing heart failure.

(2) If the condition still does not improve, vasoactive drugs such as positive inotropes, vasodilators and vasoconstrictors should be selected according to systolic blood pressure and pulmonary congestion.

(3) For patients with severe conditions, persistently low blood pressure (<90 mmHg) or even cardiogenic shock, hemodynamics should be monitored and various non-drug treatments such as intra-aortic balloon pump, mechanical ventilation support, blood purification, ventricular mechanical assist devices and surgery should be used.

(4) Dynamic measurement of BNP/NT-proBNP helps guide the treatment of acute heart failure. If the level remains high after treatment, it indicates a poor prognosis and treatment should be strengthened. If the level decreases after treatment and the decrease is >30%, it indicates that the treatment is effective and the prognosis is good.

(5) Control and eliminate various risk factors and promptly correct underlying cardiovascular diseases.

The treatment of chronic heart failure has shifted from short-term hemodynamic/pharmacological measures such as diuretics, cardiotonic agents, and vasodilation to long-term, restorative strategies based mainly on neuroendocrine inhibitors, with the goal of changing the biological properties of the failing heart.