Diagnosing A Weakened Heart

Heart failure is a progressive condition that affects about five million people in America. Medical Correspondent Dr. Emily Senay says that doctors now have some new ways to diagnose and treat the debilitating condition.

Congestive heart failure is a gradual weakening of the heart where the muscle wall of the heart does not beat well. People who suffer from heart failure often suffer from lack of energy and have to live with restricted mobility. It is the number one cause for hospitalizations for elderly patients. But it can be hard to diagnose right away in the emergency room.

The two main symptoms are shortness of breath and fatigue. However, patients can also experience leg swelling, lack of appetite, nausea, confusion and increased heart rate as the heart tries to make up for not beating efficiently.

Many of these symptoms are common to other problems," says Dr. Senay. "It's hard for a doctor to determine the cause of shortness of breath because it's a symptom of bronchitis and pneumonia as well as heart failure."

Doctors must go through a painstaking process of elimination to determine if a patient had heart failure. But a new simple test with a needle stick and blood sample can tell within 15 minutes whether a patient is suffering from heart failure. It is called a B.N.P. test and it measures a heart's hormone called Brain Natriuretic Peptid. This hormone is released by the left ventricle when the heart gets overloaded. The heart is in trouble when the level of B.N.P. goes up.

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that the simple test was more than 80 percent accurate in differentiating heart failure from other causes of shortness of breath.

The test is performed by placing a few drops of blood on a small cartridge and inserting it into a portable meter. The result is shown a few minutes later. The new test allows for quicker treatment with less anxiety from waiting in the emergency room.

Treatment For Heart Failure

There are medications to treat heart failure, says Dr. Senay. When the medication fails, there is some help from a device known as a resynchronizer.

The resynchronizer is an implantable device similar to a pacemaker, but the resynchronizer works by giving electrical impulses to both sides of the heart. It coordinates the contraction of the heart's ventricles, improving pumping efficiency and increasing blood flow.

A recent study shows promising results using cardiac resynchronization for people with moderate to severe heart failure.