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Heart & Vascular Care - Heart Failure

Causes of Heart Failure

Heart failure results from anything that changes the structure of the heart or the way is functions so that its ability to fill or eject blood is impaired. Many of the causes of all 3 types of heart failure are the same.

Systolic Heart Failure
Heart attack (loss of heart muscle and scarring) 
High blood pressure (hypertension) 
Diabetes 
Coronary Artery Disease 
Anemia 
Thyroid problems 
Valvular Heart Disease 
Alcoholic cardiomyopathy 
Drug Use (cocaine) 
Congential Defects (born with heart abnormalities)
Bacterial or Viral infections (HIV, myocarditis)
Cardiotoxic medications (some chemotherapy drugs)
Arrhythmias (rapid heart rates) 
Diseases of the heart muscle (muscular dystrophy, cardiomyopathy
Infiltrative (amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, hemochromatosis) 
Post-Partum (after pregnancy) 
Unknown reasons (idiopathic - may be genetic)

Diastolic Heart Failure 
High blood pressure (hypertension) 
Aging 
Coronary Artery Disease 
Diabetes 
Hypertrophic Heart Disease (thickened heart muscle) 
Valvular Heart Disease (Aortic stenosis, Mitral stenosis) 
Infiltrative diseases (amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, hemochromatosis) 
Thyroid disease 
Anemia 
Obesity

Right-sided Heart Failure 
Systolic heart failure or diastolic heart failure 
Chronic lung disease 
Coronary Artery Disease 
Valvular Heart Disease (Pulmonic stenosis, tricuspid stenosis or regurgitation) 
Pericardial constriction

RELATED
INFORMATION
What is Heart Failure?
Types
Causes
Compensation - the body's response
Symptoms
New York Heart Association Classification
Stages
Exams and Testing
Treatment
Medications
Living with Heart Failure


  


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