Acute Cardiac Failure Management

       Acute cardiac failure is a severe medical condition where the heart cannot pump blood properly, leading to blood filling up in the veins and lungs. This in turn, leads to less oxygen intake, further weakening the heart. Heart failure is a chronic disease but its conditions may manifest frequently, leading to complications, and can even turn fatal. Acute heart failure management thus involves recognizing the tell-tale signs of the disorder and seek help immediately. Breathlessness is the most common symptom of acute heart failure, and may exhibit in various forms-from "suffocation" to "tight chest" to "heavy breathing." Patients, families, and care-givers should also be aware of signs of peripheral oedema, a condition where fluid accumulates in the tissues of ankles and legs and leads to swelling in these areas; coughing; difficulty in breathing when lying down; pain in the chest; tiredness; and palpitations. In the elderly, heart failure may even cause vague symptoms like drowsiness, confusion, and mental disorientation.
Acute heart failure management involves treating the disorders that eventually lead to the failure. These include coronary artery blockage, high blood pressure levels, thyroid malfunctions, heart valve disorders, abnormal connect between the chambers of the heart, anemia, and alcoholism. Apart from treating these conditions, lifestyle changes and effective drug intervention can also dramatically lessen the chances of acute heart failure. Patients and family members should be aware of the symptoms and the immediate corrective actions, like taking an additional dose of diuretic or seeking medical help; patients should go in for medical check-ups regularly or visit specialized heart failure clinics to ensure that their heart conditions are monitored and slight anomalies are detected immediately; patients should also consult their physicians before starting on a new drug for many drugs are known to make the heart function slowly and some arthritis medication cause fluids and salt to accumulate in the body. Being physically fit, maintaining your ideal body weight, stopping smoking and drinking, and limiting the amount of salt intake can help people with a history of heart failure.

Acute heart failure treatment may also be carried out with drugs like diuretics, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, and angiotensin II receptor blockers. People who are not benefitted by ACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers are prescribed vasodilators or drugs that dilate the blood vessels. Some symptomatic treatments include administering anticoagulants to prevent clotting within the chambers of the heart and oxygen to treat conditions of oedema. People with poor heart conditions may also be recommended pacemaker implantation.
In spite of the advances in cardiac sciences, the prognosis for acute heart failure remains grim; the mortality rate is 50-60% for patients suffering from severe failure. It is imperative that symptoms of poor heart condition get diagnosed early and treatments begun in the earnest, to give people with acute cardiac failure a fighting chance.